Fairness. Good ideal to live by, right? Don’t hog everything for yourself, share with
others. Make honest answers. Get what your actions deserve.
...
Don’t cheat
in a game, but play fairly. Make sure
others have it as good as you do. But
would literal fairness also imply that you should have it just as good as
others?
Fairness,
serving everyone equally, living honestly and justly… definitely embodies good
points, but what about this?---- “Fairness: give birthday gifts to your friends, but only
when they’ll give you an equal-quality gift in return.” Even.
Fair. “Only invite people to your
wedding that will invite you in return.”
“A parent should give more attention to the child that behaves better.”
(fairly earned?)
Does that rub
you the wrong way? Me too.
What about
the uncontrollable things?
-You live a
perfect life, never get sick … but then you do.
-Mean,
manipulative people should not get a promotion at work … but then they do.
-A beautiful
daughter born to a loving family should live until old age… but doesn’t…
-A whole
city prays for a person’s healing … and sometimes they still do not make it.
-I was born
into a loving family that supported me and helped me achieve my dreams. Another was born into a poor, disrespectful
family and left poor and feeling unloved.
Life isn’t
fair. People get things their actions
don’t deserve. The world is broken. Sometimes it’s the worst! But throughout the years, people have made
mistakes, people have sinned, and God has chosen not to condemn all evil yet,
especially the evil within people. (He
will destroy all evil in the end times, but for now, He’s graciously giving His
people time to turn back to Him). So, in
the meantime, the world holds sin’s consequences … sickness, natural disasters,
premature death, bad decisions… so much that people shouldn’t have to
experience…
BUT, on
the other hand, life isn’t
fair. People get things their actions
don’t deserve. The smallest,
less-coordinated kid hit a home run and won the baseball game. A man gave a waitress a $100 tip for no
reason other than to help her. Soldiers
die every day to protect the safety and freedom of entire countries. A naughty child is unconditionally loved more
than he could ever know by two loving parents.
A teenager with no hope of affording college is awarded a full-ride
scholarship that felt undeserved.
And best of
all,
One man
sacrificed his perfect life so millions and billions of broken people could
live in righteousness forever.
“The beauty of
grace is that it makes life not fair.” – Relient K, “Be My Escape”
That line ^ always caught my attention.
The BEAUTY of grace is that it makes life NOT
fair? But I worked 12 hours, I should be
paid more than the person that worked 6 hours.
I accomplished more on the group project than Johnny, so I should get a
higher grade. Before I had a job, my
tithing amount was so much less. “God, I
was always faithful to You, but my brother turned away from You and wasted his
father’s inheritance. Why does he get
the party and not me?” – [Prodigal Son’s older brother] (see Luke 15:11-32 –
AMAZING story that never gets old and never fails to teach me something).
I am
reminded of a simple parable Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 20:1-16:
“For the kingdom of heaven is
like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his
vineyard
2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day
and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine
in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing
nothing.
4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my
vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So
they went.
“He went out again about noon
and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About
five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He
asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 “‘Because no
one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go
and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When
evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers
and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to
the first.’
9 “The workers
who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So
when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each
one of them also received a denarius. 11 When
they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’
they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the
work and the heat of the day.’
13 “But he
answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree
to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay
and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you.
15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want
with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 “So the last
will be first, and the first will be last.”
Jesus turned
so many of the world’s values upside down.
Why would someone
who only works one hour make the same amount of money as someone who works all
day? Because of GRACE. Why would a murderer who turns to Christ on
his/her deathbed receive the same eternal life as someone who served God as a
missionary since age twelve? Because God
LOVES all people and sent His Son Jesus to die for the sins of all people and
rise again to give everyone life forever in heaven. But how does it work for both of these
situations?
“Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will
be saved.” –Romans 10:13, Acts 2:21, Joel 2:32
No strings
attached. Accept that Jesus died to take
your place, a sinner’s death, and instead you get life. ETERNAL life.
Even Peter, arguably the closest disciple to Jesus, questions this
fairness, after Jesus hints that Peter will die a painful martyr’s death:
“21 When Peter saw [John, his fellow disciple], he
said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man [John]?” 22 Jesus
said to him, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I
come, what is that to you? You follow me!’” –John 21:21-22
We
should spend our energy trying to live our own lives the way Christ desires of
us, not demanding fairness from others.
Life isn’t fair, but often that’s to our benefit:
“I have
sinned in my life so I deserve to … wait …”
Hold the
phone. Do we really want everything we
deserve? Do we really want life to be
perfectly fair? Then we deserve to
die. Yes, we did good things in our
lives, but life is not a scale, weighing our good deeds versus our bad ones,
and hoping the good outweighs the bad.
God’s standard is perfection.
(Matthew 5:48). But THANK GOD, He
KNEW we would not be able to attain that on our own, with free will, as He
wants us to have, so He made a different way-- He sent His PERFECT Son Jesus
to take AWAY from us the death our sins deserve and instead give all of us what
Jesus’ perfect life deserved – perfect eternal life with God forever! What an incomparable, undeniable GIFT!
OK, so we
get the salvation thing, and cute (but truly amazing) examples of unfairness
that we like, such as how some of our parents gave EVERYTHING for us. (I am more grateful for them every day).
But, why am I obsessed with fairness in my
day-to-day life when some of the most BEAUTIFUL and IMPACTFUL things in life
are not fair?
Jesus said, Love your enemy.
Bless those who persecute you. By
doing so, you will heap burning coals on their heads. (Matthew
5:43, Romans 12:20, paraphrased).
WHICH in that time and culture meant a ritual of REPENTANCE! It will catch their attention and turn them
back to the GOD who is crazy about them!!
Give a sandwich to a homeless person.
Use some of your fun money to give to a charity or mission in need. Write an encouraging note to someone who is
sad. Send someone a gift for no
reason. Call a friend you haven’t talked
to in ages. Befriend the lonely
person. Why, because they earned
it? No, because you can! Because Christ did. Because it will brighten their life and catch
their attention--- why would you do that for no personal gain?? It will help them see Jesus through you, for
who He really is.
But I
confess, I need to work on this.
I tend to be
a perfectionist, so I like when everything works out neatly.
Examples … I
drove this week, so you drive next week, and we’ll be even.
I cooked
tonight, you cook tomorrow.
You brought
ice cream? I better bring fruit. But fruit’s cheaper than ice cream, shoot. I
better bring salad too.
You’ll cover
my tip at the restaurant? But that’s not
necessary.
I made a
mess the other day and had to clean it up, so your turn.
WHY DO I
IMPOSE EXPECTATIONS ON OTHER PEOPLE?!
AND WHY DO I OVERCALCULATE THINGS SO MUCH?! Jesus LOVES a cheerful giver, (2 Corinthians
9:7-8), a humble, servant heart, and I’ll admit, I’ve been sucking at that
lately. Why do I care?!?! All I have (money, time, talent) is God’s
anyway, so why wouldn’t I want to share freely?
I love making people happy – why not go for it? What is an act of kindness if I’m doing it
with the expectation that I’ll get it back in return? Is that really an act of kindness? Shouldn’t I just do it out of the goodness of
my heart, solely for that other person, with no motivation of getting
recognition or a gift in return?? (And
when I desire selflessness in a marriage, is that really so I can serve and
honor him fully … or just so he can serve me?
God, purify my heart and motives!)
God sees
everything, and He loves when His children follow in His loving footsteps and
help people. Why do we feel we need
payback? Whatever happened to “pay it
forward”? Why not serve and influence
MORE people with this RADICAL LOVE instead of demanding it in return? Where’s the satisfaction from getting it
back?
It’s
true. Some people may take advantage of
your servant heart. But more often,
people will see your generous, grace-filled heart and catch on to it, wanting
to serve you and others anyway. It’s not
for us to judge.
I keep
hearing the song “Fix My Eyes” by For King and Country on the radio, and
here’s what it says:
“Hit Rewind,
Click Delete.
Stand face
to face with the younger me.
All of the
mistakes,
All of the
heartbreak,
Here’s what
I’d do differently:
I’d Love like I’m not scared,
Give when it’s not fair,
Live life for another,
Take time for a brother,
Fight for the weak ones,
Speak out for freedom,
Find faith in the battle,
Stand tall, and above it all:
Fix my eyes … on You.”
Good post. See you soon in good ole' Ioway!
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