Day 263- Its Not Fair

📖Daily Reading

 Romans 8-9

🎥 Video  

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📝 Reflection 

Romans 9: 1-3

“With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them.”

This verse stopped me in my tracks. I could feel the conviction and the anguish in Paul’s heart. He is talking about the perceived fairness of ‘the way’ of God presented through Jesus.  In fact he goes on in vs. 14 to ask the question: “Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not!” Even though he himself would give up Christ and be cut off and cursed for eternity to have there be a way for his Jewish brothers and sisters to be saved. 💔  This I think is one of the biggest blocks that both non believers and believers have faced since before even Jesus walked the earth.  It’s not fair…I can’t believe in a God who would allow exclusion, pain, suffering, war etc..

We are reminded also by Paul when we are tempted by the ‘it’s not fair’ argument that; “No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into?”

As humans most of us can probably come up with an example or situation where we ourselves have been accused of not being fair. Our most common defense is probably some version of  ‘you don’t have all of the facts’. So we conversely we need to remind ourselves that we don’t have all the facts either. We only have our limited perspective as humans. We don’t have the whole plan and the whole story (‘his’story).  I can think of several examples personally where I have said ‘it’s not fair’ to my parents and where my kids have said it to me. As one who is under authority and in authority I can now understand that sometimes fairness and ‘rightness’ are not the same thing. 

It is true that there have been times when I have not treated my kids fair from their perspective, they are correct, but that doesn’t mean that I was not wrong in my decisions as a parent. They didn’t have the responsibility, the perspective, or the knowledge that I have. This is maybe how we should think more broadly about God and our choice to believe or not believe when we are tempted to discount based on the ‘fairness’ argument. 

Here in America we have a system of ‘fairness’ that is about as good as any that has been developed so far, and yet we get a lot wrong. We have built a country of freedom based on the suppression and destruction of indigenous peoples and the enslavement of another. There is a lot of injustice that still happens all the time even in a country where we have created system that is supposed to deliver justice. While it is good, it is not perfect. As humans we are imperfect and we really mess up even when we are trying to get it right and yet we like to sit in judgement of God and the system that he has chosen to put in place. ⚖️

These are not easy discussions to have or concepts to put into language. We want to put God in our logical box before we give him our allegiance.  His ways are not our ways. I am responsible for Felecia and her life and her beliefs alone. I don’t have to convince anyone of anything. I can only share what I believe and encourage you to believe that there is a God who loves you totally and completely, that there is nothing you can do to earn it, it might not seem fair, all you have to do is believe and receive. What you do with this is up to you.

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39 NLT)

 

✍🏼Daily Journal Prompt 

 Has the idea of fairness affected your spiritual journey. Has the idea of fairness kept you stuck in other areas of your life. Sometimes I have allowed this mindset to keep me in a victim or martyr mentality and avoid taking personal responsibility. How does this resonate with you? 

📖Tomorrows Reading

 Romans 10

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