Each Day Already is a Challenge

Life's Not Fair

....but God is good. God is good....all the time.

Warning. Sermon coming.

The Building Character series continues. Part 9

Learning Fairness in an Unfair World

Notes in the margins:

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon - the world's wisest man - said that crime not punished will go on. In Ecc. 8:11 NIV When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong.

Most people don't think about fairness. Most people don't care as long as they get theirs.

Last year, one million Christians were martyred. That's the average per year.

The world is not Heaven; it's not perfect.

Ecclesiastes, 4:1-2 Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors and they have no comforter. And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive.

Ecclesiastes 8:14 NIV There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless.

Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 NIV I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.

Ecclesiastes 10:5-6 NIV 5 There is an evil I have seen under the sun,
the sort of error that arises from a ruler: Fools are put in many high positions,
while the rich occupy the low ones.

We pay athletes ten to a hundred times the pay of teachers, the ones responsible for teaching our children.

God wants tried and true lovers. He could have created us to be robotic worshipers. Instead He gave us free will. We get to choose to love Him or to ignore Him. If bad things happen, it isn't because God chose those bad things to happen. But he did give everyone free will. If you are hit by a drunk driver, it isn't God's fault, but the fault of the driver who chose to drive while drunk.

If God took away injustice, He would also have to take away free will or choices.

We may never get an explanation here on earth about why we had the suffering we did.
Photo negatives taken are turned to positive by having a very bright light shine on them. So it is with people. Negatives turn to positive by our Shining Light.

And now for the fill-in-the-blanks....

Why does God allow injustice?

Because He blessed us with free will.

Deuteronomy 11:26 NLT "Today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse!"

Because God will bless us with justice.

2 Corinthians 5:10 NCV We must all stand before Christ to be judged. Each of us will receive what we should get -- good or bad -- for the thing we did in the earthly body.

God's judgement will b so much better than any revenge we can imagine.

Because God wants us to find our Savior.

Ecclesiastes 3:18 TLB And then I realized that God is letting the world go on its sinful way so that he can test mankind, and so that men themselves will see that they are no better than the beasts.

We need a Savior!!!

Humanity is not good. Hope is not in man, not in a new President, not even in the Church. Hope is in Jesus.

Because God wants us to build character.

Romans 5:3-4 ESV Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

Potentially, suffering has this ability...if we respond in the right way.

How to face unfairness:

Accept is as part of your spiritual pilgrimage.

1 Peter 4:12-13 NCV My friends, do not be surprised at the terrible trouble which now comes to test you. Do not think that something strange is happening to you. But be happy that you are sharing in Christ's sufferings so that you will be happy and full of joy when Christ comes again in glory.

Replace your anger with affection.

Matthew 5:44 NCV But I say to you, love your enemies. Pray for those who hurt you.

You cannot carry around a ball and chain for 25 years because someone hurt you. You have to learn to love your enemies and pray for those who hurt you.

Booker T. Washington said, "I let no man drag me down so low as to make me hate him."

Let God be your source of strength.

1 Peter 2:19 NCV A person might have to suffer even when it is unfair; but if he thinks of God and stands the pain, God is pleased.

1 Peter 4:19 NLT So if you are suffering according to God's will, keep on doing what is right, and trust yourself to the God who made you, for He will never fail you.

Remember....

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!