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.”
Friday, January 07, 2011
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
December 7 vs December 8
December 7th 1941. December 8th 1980. Two dates, linked only by their proximity on the calendar. Yet one day, is given higher treatment and better coverage than the other is in today’s media. What significant event happened on each day?
December 7th: The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.
December 8th: John Lennon is murdered.
December 7th: Announced to the United States by President Roosevelt.
December 8th: Announced to the United States by Howard Cosell.
December 7th: A date which will live in infamy.
December 8th: A date the music died.
December 7th: The reference to God - “With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.” President Roosevelt
December 8th: The reference to Christianity - “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity” John Lennon 1966.
December 7th: gave birth to the “greatest generation.”
December 8th: brought death to an influential person.
Which historical event received more recent news coverage? The event that changed the world or the event that changed an industry. The event that effected the whole population or the event that affected a few people.
On December 7, 2010, I suffered through 3 hours of CNN. The only statement about Pearl Harbor was a “This day in history” blurb. That’s it. No replays of Roosevelt’s speech. No interviews, past or current, of any survivor or military person. Nothing.
On December 8 2010, when I first changed to CNN they were giving a stirring tribute to John Lennon. Thirty minutes later, the coverage was still about Lennon. They interviewed musicians, actors, and politicians about the “impact that John Lennon had on their life.” Some of these people were not even born when Lennon was killed.
What is wrong with this scenario? Have we as a society gotten away from what is important to the development of the nation, and only focused on what makes us feel good. Lennon’s mantra of “Give peace a chance”, so prevalent that we lost the importance of the wars that were fought to preserve the American society. Do the media not think we should have gone to war and given “peace a chance?”
War is not a popular thing, nor is it something that should ever be entered into lightly. Yet, there comes a time when, unfortunately, war is the only thing that can accomplish peace. Had the United States not fought back, Hawaii, and possibly the whole west coast would be speaking Japanese. Europe and the east coast would be speaking German.
In order to get back to what is important, society has to make what is important to be important. John Lennon stated that Christianity would die out. So did Voltaire, Nietzsche, and an assortment of other philosophers and entertainers. What is common with them. They are dead, Christianity is not.
December 7 1941, brought out the ugliness of humanity. It also brought out the greatness of humanity. December 8 1980, brought out the ugliness of humanity. What greatness came from it?
December 7th: The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.
December 8th: John Lennon is murdered.
December 7th: Announced to the United States by President Roosevelt.
December 8th: Announced to the United States by Howard Cosell.
December 7th: A date which will live in infamy.
December 8th: A date the music died.
December 7th: The reference to God - “With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.” President Roosevelt
December 8th: The reference to Christianity - “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity” John Lennon 1966.
December 7th: gave birth to the “greatest generation.”
December 8th: brought death to an influential person.
Which historical event received more recent news coverage? The event that changed the world or the event that changed an industry. The event that effected the whole population or the event that affected a few people.
On December 7, 2010, I suffered through 3 hours of CNN. The only statement about Pearl Harbor was a “This day in history” blurb. That’s it. No replays of Roosevelt’s speech. No interviews, past or current, of any survivor or military person. Nothing.
On December 8 2010, when I first changed to CNN they were giving a stirring tribute to John Lennon. Thirty minutes later, the coverage was still about Lennon. They interviewed musicians, actors, and politicians about the “impact that John Lennon had on their life.” Some of these people were not even born when Lennon was killed.
What is wrong with this scenario? Have we as a society gotten away from what is important to the development of the nation, and only focused on what makes us feel good. Lennon’s mantra of “Give peace a chance”, so prevalent that we lost the importance of the wars that were fought to preserve the American society. Do the media not think we should have gone to war and given “peace a chance?”
War is not a popular thing, nor is it something that should ever be entered into lightly. Yet, there comes a time when, unfortunately, war is the only thing that can accomplish peace. Had the United States not fought back, Hawaii, and possibly the whole west coast would be speaking Japanese. Europe and the east coast would be speaking German.
In order to get back to what is important, society has to make what is important to be important. John Lennon stated that Christianity would die out. So did Voltaire, Nietzsche, and an assortment of other philosophers and entertainers. What is common with them. They are dead, Christianity is not.
December 7 1941, brought out the ugliness of humanity. It also brought out the greatness of humanity. December 8 1980, brought out the ugliness of humanity. What greatness came from it?
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