That’s Not Fair

A Familiar Refrain

“That’s not fair!” If you’re a parent of a child or teen, you probably hear that complaint daily. As parents, we seek ways to treat our children fairly. We divide the Halloween candy evenly across all of our children, or ensure we spend the same amount on each grandchild at Christmas time.

The truth is, adults make this complaint just as often as younger people. We all reach a point where we’ve had enough and, like Job, cry out to God:

“But I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God.” (Job 13:3, NIV)

But as adults, we also realize that life will not be fair, no matter how often we complain. Some people are blessed with intelligence, wealth, sports skills, or an artistic talent. Our peers might come from a loving family, where our family is dysfunctional. Studies have shown that good looking people often experience advantages in hiring, higher salaries, social interactions, and even legal settings.

That’s not fair!

God’s Grace Is Not Fair

One parable of Jesus about the Kingdom of God (Heaven) in Matthew 20:1–16 challenges how I think about fairness. In the story, a vineyard owner hires workers throughout the day. Some are hired when the sun is just rising, some at mid-day, and others not far from day’s end. The vineyard owner chose to pay all the workers the same wage (one denarius), no matter what time they started.

The workers who had labored all day felt cheated. They complained to the vineyard owner “These last men have worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us” (verse 12). They measured their contribution in”hours worked” – what they earned.

The vineyard owner addressed the heart of the matter: “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I’m generous?” (v15).

The vineyard owner always seemed unfair to me. The early workers should get paid more since they worked longer. We’re not comfortable with this radical grace which rearranged the ranking system to not include our contributions (i.e., our works). But that is the point of the story. The vineyard belonged to the owner. He could choose to be generous and give the later workers compensation they didn’t earn. It was His vineyard and his money.

In the Kingdom of God, His grace and mercy override our sense of fairness. God doesn’t “owe” us salvation because of what we’ve done (works). Our sins earn us eternal damnation, separation from God. That would be “fair.”

But God, in His mercy, spares us that condemnation and, through His abundant grace, offers salvation to all who believe.

That grace is available to everyone, whether we were saved at a young age (an early worker) or later in life (hired late in the day).  And, a Gentile who was saved at age 28 (a late vineyard worker), I’m thankful that this is about God’s grace and not my merit.

Grace Wins Every Time

We are loved not because of who we are, but because of who He is. Our flaws don’t define us. Instead, by God’s grace, our identity, as children of God, comes from being His.

The next time you hear someone say “that’s not fair!”, rejoice that God does not give us what we deserve, but instead blesses us with His love, grace, and mercy.

I’ll take the grace of God over the scales of justice any day!

Prayer: Thank you for being generous with Your mercy and grace, not giving us what we deserve, but instead showering us with blessings of abundant and eternal life.