Working with teenagers for a long time, I often heard “that isn’t fair.” It’s amazing, though, how one-sided fairness is. We look at people who are wealthier than we are, and we think, “that’s not fair.” At the same time, we forget how wealthy we are as Americans and that 95% of the rest of the world is poorer. If we really wanted fair, then we would all lose quite a bit of money. No, fair only matters when it’s to our benefit.
From Job’s perspective, God wasn’t being fair. Look at the wicked: they prosper in spite of their wickedness. They get job promotions, take nice vacations, and live however they wish for the duration of their lives. Meanwhile the righteous try to do what’s right, and in Job’s case, he lost it all. It would be hard to be in his situation and not question the fairness of it all.
The thing about Christianity, however, is that it’s both the most fair and the most unfair faith system that exists. It’s unfair because a person without guilt (Jesus) took the punishment for the rest of the world’s sin. That’s not fair at all for him. But the means of salvation is quite fair. No one gets into God’s good graces by behaving well. The only way in is through faith in Christ’s death on the cross. What could be more fair than that?
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