Free gift

You have to work for a wage, but God offers a free gift. Sin is actually labor, but grace is gratis—to you, but not to God. For Ernest Hemingway, wrote a 1956 interviewer, sin seemed to pay off for life, not death. But sin paid a hefty wage to Hemingway, even in this life. The final ten years of his life were spent in emotional and mental torment. Hemingway killed himself on July 2, 1961. God’s promise works both ways—the wages of sin will always be collected unless one receives the free gift of Christ’s forgiveness.