Intro: Is life fair? Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it. As human beings, we want the events and happenings of life on earth to line up with our sense of justice. We will think life is fair when circumstances line up with our desired outcome. This expectation may make sense in our human minds and understanding, but grace is not about fairness. God is faithful to His covenant of grace; only God knows the heart or attitude of each human being and his or her response to saving grace. Is fairness the issue when a person rejects what God is offering?
Grace [favor] isn’t fair even though our God who provides it is perfectly fair. We do not deserve grace, nor can we in any way earn it. Grace is a gift to move us by faith in Christ toward loving God righteously, as well as loving and treating others with the fairness of God’s love for us. Human beings with unredeemed hearts are the source of unfairness…not God.
God is in charge of all things in heaven and on earth; each day His sovereignty, as well as our human weakness toward righteous thinking is revealed. We cannot and will never be able to understand the whole plan and purpose of God, but that does not seem to stop us from the mental gymnastics we go through in our heads wrestling down what is holy and infinite because we want to be able to judge whether or not things are “fair.”
When you are tempted to think life is unfair, please remember believers serve the God of all justice. God never said life would align with our mental image of fairness. He simply reminds us He is good and everything will be used to accomplish His purpose. Therefore, faith in God’s promise is essential, because fairness is not even a possibility in this fallen world that many times rejects the power and authority of God. Believers long for true justice because it has been planted in our hearts by God, but the day of justice still lies ahead. In the meantime, let’s remember justice is about the pure love and mercy of God toward His rebellious creation.
In our passage today from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Roman Christians [and believers throughout time], we are reminded of God’s perfect ability to know the hearts of people. He knows the ones who will humble themselves, repent, and respect His authority, as well as the ones who will remain hard-hearted and reject the mercy, love, and transformation Christ brings. Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. God desires for the world to come into relationship with Him, so He provides faith, a Savior, and grace and asks for us to choose wisely; this is the justice of God. Is He fair?
Romans 9:6-18 NLT
6 Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! 7 Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too. 8 This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children. 9 For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
10 This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins. 11 But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; 12 he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.” 13 In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.”
14 Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! 15 For God said to Moses,
“I will show mercy to anyone I choose,
and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.”
16 So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.
17 For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.” 18 So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for knowing the things we are incapable of knowing. In this fallen world our understanding needs revelation and guidance. We need you to be our standard and example for living. You know every heart, because you created each person; therefore those who call upon your name for salvation are the chosen. We are always treated fairly by you. Thank you for liberating us in Christ and giving us the Holy Spirit to guide our choices. We praise you for making our freedom clear throughout Scripture and for making a way of salvation through Christ. In Jesus’ name. Amen.