"Life Isn't Fair"

We've all heard the saying.

And it doesn't really help anything or comfort anyone.

There are so many unfair things in our world around us.  Like the guy I cut-off today or the child born with HIV. There are two kinds of unfairness/injustice/sin: that which originates from human action/inaction, and that which originates from the brokenness of this world (which distantly originated by human action in a garden somewhere).

God's desire is to see both forms of unfairness/injustice/sin redeemed/overcome/dealt with.

I think we often forget, at least I do, how just God is; that justice is very much a part of His nature.  Justice and injustice cannot cohabitate.  Deep down we all yearn to see justice in our lives because we have all be wronged.  Daily.  In a million ways.

And while we all desire to be loved, as God alone can, we also desire to be justified.  I need to know that I am both loved and justified.  Without love justice is brutal, and without justice love is meaningless.  I find it so awesome and beautiful that we see love and justice married at the Cross.  I am loved (Jn 3:16) and justified (Rom 5:9).  For all the hurtful and harmful things that I have done to others and myself, it is comforting to know that those hurts don't just have to be tolerated.  They can be redeemed; the price for justice has been paid.  One day there will be vengeance in its fullness.  Judgement is coming, and while that idea usually makes us nervous we should be glad that all the wrongs we have received in life will be repaid.

Justice.

Through God's continued redemptive work in creation we are seeing the unfairness in life challenged, overcome, and removed.  Slowly we are a part of bringing justice to the world.  Purposefully being kind to others waiting in line at the grocery store, driving courteously, sitting with the brokenhearted, or working to cure disease and disability.

Often a violation we receive stems from a violation someone else received and has passed on to us.  I can either in turn allow my hurt to affect how I act toward other and thus multiply the harm, or I can instead absorb the injustice (by giving it to Jesus) and not pass it on.  We affect the atmosphere around us, we either make waves or we calm them.

This broken world is inclined toward injustice just as it is also tends toward chaos/entropy.  Life on this rock isn't fair.  But God is fair, and He is bringing redemption and fairness to life.  The question is will we be a part of His solution?