It’s not fair

‘It’s not fair’ is the cry of every child at some point in the journey towards adult life. The words can be followed with ‘he’s got more than me’ or ‘why has she got a pony and I have not?’. As adults we don’t tend to cry out ‘It’s not fair’ but we can still feel it.

Are any of these your experience?:

Your boss makes you work extra hours while they go home early.

Your benefits are stopped because you missed an interview when your child was sick.

You don’t get paid as much as someone doing the same job in your company because they are a man and you are a woman.

You speak out against injustice at work and are demoted.

You are blamed for something you didn’t do.

I believe that God wants us to speak out against injustice. When any parent sees their children being treated unfairly they are heartbroken and they feel compelled to act. God created us and he hates injustice and so should we. This makes it especially ironic that an act of apparent injustice is at the very heart of the Christian faith as the thing that saves us.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6.23)

Wages are what we deserve, they are a consequence of our actions. My lifestyle that falls short of God’s perfect standards has a consequence which is a separation from God and ultimately death.

The good news is that God offers us what we don’t deserve. A gift is not something that we earn or necessarily deserve. I am condemned to separation from God for eternity but Jesus chose to die in our place. Although he was perfect, holy and sinless, he became our sacrifice so that we could be free.

That really is not fair!

Some people are confused by the whole Jesus having to die in our place thing. After all, if God is love, doesn’t that mean that he should just forgive us anyway? Some people feel that God is being picky or even that he is a snob for judging us for being imperfect. What people who make this argument fail to realize is that God is a God of justice as well as a God of love. God sees the consequence of every sinful action and that is why he hates sin. An insult may seem harmless to us, but it can wreak havoc and destruction in someone’s life. God sees the pain and suffering that any sin causes and that is why he longs for a world free from sin.

It’s easy to have principles when they cost us nothing. God requires justice, but he also loves us and wants us to be able to know him. The only way to satisfy both these things is for someone who is perfect and sinless to die as a substitute for humanity. Jesus is God who became flesh in order to become our substitute. It cost God so much to become human:

The God who is everywhere confined himself to a human body.

The God who knows everything confined himself to a human brain that was limited.

The God who is indestructible confined himself to a fragile body that could be hurt or killed.

That is not fair!

Jesus died in our place and it literally cost him everything. Jesus had done nothing wrong and yet he died. We have sinned and fallen short of God’s perfect standard and yet we are offered eternal life that we don’t deserve.

That is not fair!

We  hate it when life isn’t fair and we are losing out, but Jesus willingly puts himself in that exact position to save us. It isn’t fair that Jesus had to die but it was his choice meaning that there was no injustice against him. Jesus surrenders his right to fair treatment and justice for himself in order to offer us the gift of eternal life. This is why I follow Jesus. He gave everything for me and this is why I have turned away from my sinful lifestyle and in doing so I have asked Jesus for his forgiveness and made him my Lord.

It is not fair, but I gladly accept God’s free gift of eternal life.

The hymn Before the throne of God above contains these lyrics

Because the sinless Saviour died
My sinful soul is counted free
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me

It is not fair, but I am grateful.