Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Is God Fair?

Is God fair? I suppose that depends on what you call fair. People often think fair means that you get what anyone else gets. If John gets a dollar for cleaning his room, then “it isn’t fair” if Sue gets a dollar for doing nothing at all. Sue, on the other hand, would think it isn’t fair for John to get a dollar and her not, since her room is already clean.

Our problem is that we want to define fair in terms of what we get. In actual fact, we are lacking in the ability to define what is fair and what is not. God is the only judge with complete ability to define what is fair. Not only is he fair, but he is such a stickler for being fair that he sent his son to die on the cross for our sins. Think about it. If God wasn’t fair, the plan of salvation would be different. He could have said, “I’m just going to forgive everyone for their sin because I don’t want to send them to hell.” But that isn’t his nature. Instead of changing the rules, he provided a way for us to follow the rules and have fellowship with him. The rules say that sin requires death. So God became man and died in our place.

We are not fair. When we see a child break a rule, we are quick to say, “I’ll let it slide this time, but don’t let it happen again.” If we were more like God, we would not do that, no matter how much it breaks our heart. But God always does the right thing.