Is God Fair – Part 2

Is God Fair?

I started answering this question in a previous post.

Why is it on the one hand we’re born in sin (Psalm 51:5) and on the other we can confess with our mouth “Jesus is Lord” and believe in our heart God raised Him from the dead and be saved (Romans 10:9)? Is God unfair?

Let’s unpack that question a bit…

Are we all sinful at birth?

Yes (Romans 5:12).

But it really doesn’t matter. All of us will admit we have hurt ourselves and hurt others by not being as holy as our Holy God. Because we’ve sinned, we’re all sinners.

It doesn’t really matter that we’re born in sin.  All sin leads to destruction (Galatians 6:8). All sin leads to bondage.

God isn’t offended by sin or surprised when we sin, or ashamed of the sin we commit. He came to earth to bear the sin of the whole world. Don’t think God is a prude. He’s love…and He’s passionate for us.

His love is so great He is jealous (Deuteronomy 4:24) for us so we won’t hurt ourselves and others with our sin. He longs for us to be in real relationship with Him, and sin separates us from Him.

Now, do we sin because we’re sinful at birth or do we sin because we have choice?

It doesn’t matter to me because it doesn’t affect how I live today.

Christ’s sacrifice does; His Grace does all the more.

But I want to try to more fully answer your question: Is God unfair?

Yes (Psalm 103:10).

But if you look up that verse you’ll see He’s unfair in our favor.

• He doesn’t treat us as our sin deserves (Psalm 103:10).
• He passionately seeks relationship with everyone – that includes the vile as well as the innocent (Acts 17:27–28).
• He sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous (Matthew 5:45).
• He blesses the poor, the hungry, the weeping, the hated and says “woe” to the rich, the well fed, the laughing and those well spoken of by men (Luke 6:20-26).

If we considered God “fair,” we’d have to know Him as dispassionate and detached. But He’s not. He’s passionate and good, passionate and holy, passionate and love.

Consider this: just living in North America puts you in the top 5% of the world’s wealthiest people. If you panhandle $4 a day, you make more in one day than 1 billion people do in a month.

Is that fair? No.

Some people will look at that and blame God. Kingdom-minded Christians look at that and say, “What can we do to change it?”

I don’t mind thinking that God plays favorites, because I know He loves me best (Psalm 17:8). That doesn’t mean you can’t be his favorite as well. God’s big enough to love us all that good.

I don’t need a God whose fair. I need a Father who rejoices over me (Zephaniah 3:17), a Warrior who goes before me (Deuteronomy 9:3), a Savior, Redeemer, Deliver, and Friend. I need a God who is for me not against me (Romans 8:31) and who has plans to prosper and not to harm me (Jeremiah 29:11). I need a Holy God so I can be holy (Leviticus 19:2). I need a consuming fire that keeps me pure (Hebrew 12:29). I need His grace, not His fairness.

Life isn’t fair, and in most cases I’m glad it’s unfair in my favor (Psalm 16:6) because of the One I serve. I don’t have time to go into all the spiritual blessings that are mine that far outweigh the benefit of living in North America.

Every child of God has the favor of God, and that gives us all an unfair advantage.

Is God unfair? Yes, but God is about Grace, not so worried about fairness (Matthew 25:14-28).

I’d love to hear people’s comments.