That’s Not Fair
Listening to children play, especially when on playground duty, you often hear the expression, “That’s not fair!” And as a playground attendant you start moving in that direction because trouble is about ready to explode.
Perhaps the children do not recognize it but I see in everyone that we have a meter of fairness. We make judgements all the time as to what is fair and what is not. And watch out if our meter bottoms out. For then we become righteous people expounding on what is right or wrong.
And when become righteous it is amazing how quickly we can make up rules to make sure what we think is fair is now part of the game, whether our rules were fair or not. As humans, once we think someone has taken advantage of us we want to reciprocate. And not just an eye for eye. We want to exact our own brand of revenge. Whether this is fair or not!
God is a mystery. We do not understand His ways. We often might cry, “The Lord’s way is not fair.” We forget God is all knowing and always has our best interests in mind. God sees the big picture. All we see is a little snapshot. And when we base fairness on our little snapshot, we might just find ourselves being unreasonable and unjust.
Jesus encourages us to reconcile with our brother before going to court. At least hear each other out. Try to come to some understanding. Wisdom is a gift. But it must be used. Lent is the time to seek reconciliation not only with God but with others.
May the Lord bless you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen