Articles
God Is Fair
Maybe you watch the stock market. It's been a little shaky the last few days because of the trade war with China. According to USA numbers, we imported $ 539 Billion from China, and they only imported $ 120 Billion from the USA in 2018. Because of the rhetoric surrounding it all, the market has become fearful, and fallen about 1300 points in just a few days.
Now I'm not a market expert or an economist, and I'm not even sure what the field is one needs to be an expert in to understand all that is involved in trade between countries, but without a doubt, the numbers are lopsided. Our president says he is working to try and make it-- in his words, "fair", and I think most of us would like to see it more equal.
A whole lot of what happens in life isn't fair though, at least not by modern day definitions where everybody gets the same trophy for losing as they do for winning in sports, and they believe in life too. We have those who think it unfair that people become wealthy after many years of hard work and usually some risk, when they themselves perhaps have put forth little effort in any attempt at financial gain. Fair in this context used to mean that everyone basically was given the same fundamental opportunities and they could make of it what they wanted. It never used to carry the connotation that everybody received equally regardless of effort, participation or contribution.
But the thought today isn't about the ills of our society with regards to entitlement or equality or anything else of a political nature. Our thought today is that life isn't always fair, period! We don't always get what we expect, or even maybe what we deserve, because human influences will prevent it from ever being truly fair, and often from even being equitable, and that's not necessarily wrong or bad.
But when it comes to our Heavenly Father, we don't have to worry about opinions, errors, fiction, control or anything else. Our God is fair. Our God can't be anything but fair. Our God is perfection. He can't be influenced by lies, He has all the facts, and He has all the wisdom to decide. He doesn't favor one nation above another anymore than He favors any one individual over another. Scripture says God is "no respecter of persons". He shows "no favoritism" or "partiality" (Acts 10:34). What God calls sin in one country, is sin everywhere. What God expects from humans on one continent, He expects of humans everywhere. God's judgment of us, like His expectations, will be fair and impartial.
When we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, no mistakes will be made, no favors called in, no leniency based on our character, our fame or fortune, or anything else we may lay claim to. We won't be able to lay blame on anyone else for what we did or didn't do, nor will we be able to ride the coat tails of anybody else into Heaven. We will receive a fair sentence for what we have "done while in the body, whether good or bad" (2 Cor 5:10). It really is that plain and simple, and .....fair !
If you have neglected or ignored God's calling, receiving fair treatment ought to cause you to tremble and seek God, because He is just, He is righteous, and He will punish those who stand condemned on judgment day because of the decisions they made in their lives. God loves justice (Psalm 11:7). God loves you, and has given His Son on a cross to save you from His otherwise justifiable wrath. He wants to save you. He loves you! Do you love Him?
