That title does not really set too well with me. We all know that life isn’t fair, but God – isn’t He fair?
We all have stories that we could go through that would lead us to the conclusion that God isn’t fair. I remember in my earlier days, a young, beautiful 18 year old girl that had a visible relationship with God, tragically killed in an auto accident. Too many times I have been called into ER with the greatest of unfair circumstances – a husband died of a heart attach, a child was just born dead, a dad and his two sons were killed in a house fire, or a 9 year-old boy just died of a seizure. Probably the “unfair” circumstance that hit closest to home was when my wife’s dad died so unexpectedly nearly 12 years ago, while at the same time, the father of a friend of ours had a stroke, but recovered and is still alive today – that’s not fair!
Well, God isn’t fair, nor does He claim to be fair. However, His unfairness is different that we may think. Ps. 103:10-12 states, “God does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear Him; A far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
Groeschel stated it well, “If the wages of sin is death and we’re sinners, then we deserve death. We’ve broken the law. We’re guilty. We deserve to be punished. To die and suffer eternally would be fair punishment for our disobedience. But thank God, He’s not fair.
Think about it, it wasn’t fair that Jesus had to leave his throne in heaven and come earth. It wasn’t fair that He put on flesh and lived a life like we have to live. And it wasn’t fair that He had to die on the cross to bear the punishment for our sin upon Himself. But thank God, He isn’t fair!!
Hm? What can one say to that? You are certainly correct in the fact that God isn’t fair. I’ve certainly had my times of anger and frustration. Matter of fact… I think there are times when I feel it’s a day by day occurence. Just putting this thought into perspective in your own mind with the idea of the injustice that Jesus endured makes your own seem pretty petty.
My older brother tried to help me face reality when I was a teenager, “Haven’t you realized yet that life isn’t fair?” It was the first time I ever thought of that concept at some deeper level. Then my thoughts were pulled back to this topic again when I was in college and teaching troubled teens. A girl who made a suicide attempt when she was in my care complained that there couldn’t be a God, if there was so much pain in the world. Yeh, sin made God’s perfect world unfair, but I am so glad that God had a plan even before creation and I am so thankful that he doesn’t treat me as I deserve.