It's Not Fair

It’s not fair! How many times have parents heard that line before? Whether your child is complaining about a punishment they have received for something they have done. They do not have the same “hot” item that their friends have. They do not have the same privileges that their older sibling has. There are a myriad of reasons a child would feel they are not being treated fairly.
Yet, this phrase is not limited to children. Adults have often yelled the same thing. It’s not fair that I get my mail at three in the afternoon and my brother can have his mail by 10 in the morning. It’s not fair that I did not receive the promotion. It’s not fair that I got a speeding ticket. Mention taxes to people and the rants about being fair will multiply greatly.
What really is being fair about? In most cases, it is not about equality, or even fairness, it is about a perceived slight against the person. One aspect of fairness is the complaint that others receive a benefit that you do not.
Imagine you work for a company, unlike most companies that give you a check at the end of the week, this company pays you at the end of the day. You show up at six in the morning and begin work. You notice other people show up at noon and others show up at five in the evening. At the end of the work shift at six you go through the line to receive your pay. You notice that those who show up at noon and at five receive that exact same pay that you receive for working the whole day. “It’s not fair!” you cry out. However, is it fair?
In Matthew 20, Jesus tells a parable using this exact scenario. While the workers screamed, “It’s not fair!” Jesus opened their eyes to what is and is not fair, “Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? . . .Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?” (Matthew 20:13,15 NIV). That explanation reaches the heart of fairness. We cry “It’s not fair” because of envy. Something good happens to someone else, we become envious, and we cry, “It’s not fair.”
To be fair, what about discipline. What about that speeding ticket that you rightfully received. You did break the law and you did receive the proper punishment. Now imagine the punishment is not a few hundred dollars, but a life sentence in prison. Now the sentence may not seem fair, but that is the sentence, and the sentence is equal to everyone, therefore it is fair.
What is not fair, is that when it is time for you to go to prison, someone comes forward who never received a speeding ticket, and says, “I will take the punishment for this person.” You know you have committed the crime. You know the sentence is fair and just. What do you do? Do you accept the gesture from the person, or do you scream, “It’s not fair, I did the crime, I must do the time!”
That has been done. The Bible states, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 NIV) and “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a NIV). Because of our sin, death is our punishment. Yet, Jesus came and bore the punishment for mankind, so that we can have eternal life, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24 NIV)
The next time you feel slighted and want to scream out, “It’s not fair!” think about Jesus. What would it have been like had Jesus said, “I’m not going to do that, it’s not fair.”