“It’s so unfair!” I’ve heard myself say that in prayer to the Lord many times. There are times it is still a struggle to not allow this kind of spiritual bitterness settle within my heart. It’s easy to become bitter when we see others who are being blessed with things we think we deserve. Sometimes it’s a promotion at work or maybe some other sort of recognition. Maybe it is because someone bought a new car, a new house, or anything else we feel should be ours, there are times it is hard to keep a biblical perspective.
Unfair! God does show mercy on the lost
The great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors (Proverbs 26:10).
Last week, while doing a daily Bible reading, I read this verse but what the Holy Spirit began to do in my heart was amazing. Normally, I’ve read over this verse with the thoughts of Yeah, that’s right… you’re going to get yours some day. And yes, that’s the context that we are most often familiar with. But I was led to another passage that really began to change my way of thinking:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16-18)
Unfair: Seeking and saving those who are lost!
Even when Jesus walked on this Earth, civilization was already ready to stand in the righteous judgment of God. Had God decided to judge what humankind was – sin was openly praised and encouraged. God’s plan for mankind, the Law that pointed for the need of grace and mercy, had been corrupted by those seeking religious and political power over others. God’s own chosen people had turned their back on Him, refusing to hear His message and to accept Him as their King. And in spite of all this, He chose to come to this world anyway. In Him came healing, forgiveness, and salvation.
Why? We see in the passage above Jesus explaining this to Nicodemus. And if we have any doubts, the gospel of Luke offers this clarification: For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). He didn’t come because we deserved to receive Him. Jesus came because He wanted to be a blessing to all who would hear and accept His message. He decided to give sinners a blessing so they might come to know Him.
Unfair: The Lord’s plan has always been to offer redemption
In Isaiah there’s a verse that ties nicely into all of this: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it (Isaiah 55:11). In the gospels of John and Luke, the Lord clearly says He desires that all may come to trust in Him. The invitation is still open to all: O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him (Psalms 34:8).
Each of us who have come to put our trust in the Lord had to be pursued by the Holy Spirit. We have to be brought to the place where we have no other hope but to look towards the Lord. Each of us were touched in a different way by the Lord to get our attention. Some came to know Him because of unmerited blessings. And others came to know Him because of the testimony of His grace through a loved one. And some, like me, had to be broken to where the Lord was the only one offering mercy and love. The Lord will do what it takes to get us to make a choice.
