That's Not Fair!

Photo courtesy of Pink Sherbert Photography

 

A Little "That's Not Fair" Experiment

During my 13 years as a high school teacher and coach, there was a particular phrase that I heard fairly often from my students: "That's not fair."  Sometimes it was mumbled under a student's breath as test papers were returned.  Other times it was more vocal when one student was given an opportunity that another desired.  I decided to confront all the high drama, gross unfairness that occurred in my classroom with a different kind of lesson.  (If you have taught middle and high school students, you know that this was at the risk of valuable instructional time; kids have a way of using the least little distraction to carve out large chunks of "unproductiveness.")

The last eight years of my teaching career were spent at a Christian school where most students had their Bibles handy for my little experiment.  When a student would play the "that's not fair" card, I would instruct him or (usually) her turn to 3 Hezekiah 3:4 "where God tells us that life is fair."  Usually, after some thumbing through the Bible and a quick trip to the table of contents just to be sure, the object of my unfairness would announce, "There is no 3 Hezekiah 3:4!"  To which I would calmly respond, "That's right. And life is not fair."  And class would proceed.

Your "That's Not Fair" Button

What rouses your inner "that's not fair" button?  How much does it take for your inner sense of justice to kick in?  In thinking back over the last 13 months of my writing this blog, that sense of inequitable fairness has fueled a number of posts of varying topics and degrees of righteous indignation:

Tornadoes and school shootings

Being the last to be chosen in kickball

 Rejection as a foster family

The Boston bombing and a lost baby

The grisly story of Kermit Gosnell

And so many more throughout the months.  You don't have to look far in this world to realize that things are grossly unfair.

Flipping "That's Not Fair"

Have you ever noticed that we rarely take into account that life is sometimes not fair in our favor?  I can think of several ways just off the top of my head in which my life is not fair:

• I was born into the top 2% of the world's wealth simply by being born in America?  How is that fair to the other 98%?  
• I have clean water, abundant food supply, and expensive but available medical care.  How is that fair to the kids walking several miles each way every day to fill up a nasty plastic container with filthy water that may ultimately kill them?
• I was born to loving parents who will have been married to one another for 48 years this July, who brought me home to a house (albeit with several additions) where they still live?  How is that kind of stable foundation fair to kids who have grown up with no parents, one parent, abusive parents, etc.?
• I have been part of a great body of believers at Colonial Hills Church for almost 23 years; I have learned the Word of God and how to apply it to my life and take it to others around the world?  How is that fair to those who live in places unreached and/or unengaged with the gospel?

I could go on and on with what I have that I don't deserve: a steady income; three healthy, fairly well-balanced children; four fairly reliable vehicles; and so many other blessings that I would lose you if I tried to list them all.  Though your examples my be different from mine, I'm sure that you can think of many ways in which the scales of justice in this world tip in your favor, too.

The Truth Behind "That's Not Fair"

Here's the truth behind this whole train of thought: Life is incredibly unfair.  But unfairness, by its very nature, is determined by comparison.  We think circumstances are unfair based on our predetermined yet ever-changing ideas of "how it ought to be."  If you want to complain about how unfair any part of life is, though, consider this:  "He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21, HCSB).  

Jesus, perfection in the flesh, suffered a brutal death on the cross; yes, that was horribly unfair, the false accusation and resulting punishment from the Jews and, ultimately, the Romans.  Consider, however, the greater injustice: the cup of God's wrath for all the sins of all the people of all time was poured out on the innocent Christ, who willingly took it on our behalf.  Why?  Because "God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16, HCSB).  

Terribly unfair.  On our behalf.  Remind me of that next time I play the "that's not fair" card, would you?

Thanks for reading.

4theVoiceless,
Al