Grace Makes Life Not Fair

Written by Darren Hewer

By Darren Hewer

Also available as a podcast at: http://thelife.com/blogs/experience/kindle/2008/07/04/grace-makes-life-not-fair-2/

** When life seems unfair, it can help to talk things over with others. Join our daily chats to talk about it online: http://thelife.com/interactive/chat.html

Please open your Bible and read Matthew 20:1-16.

There’s a line in a song by Relient K that goes “the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair.” I thought of this line as I read this passage, the “Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard”. I also thought back to when I read it for the first time.

I was not a Christian then, and when I read this passage, I thought, “How ridiculous! How unfair!

The workers who did more work should be paid more!” I didn’t understand the meaning behind the parable. I didn’t understand God’s grace. And I didn’t recognize myself, the one who had grown up apart from God, as the one in the parable coming late!

If each one of us received what’s “fair”, we would not like the result very much. In truth, when we ask for fairness, often we’re really asking for special treatment. The sins others commit that cause us to turn up our noses are often the very same ones that we’re hoping God will overlook.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8, TNIV)

Whether you have been a Christian all your life or only came to know the Lord very recently, God has graciously offered you so much more than you deserve: Eternal life spent in glorious relationship with Him. We are all equally undeserving, and we are all equally given this gift. Praise God that grace is “not fair”!

Praise the Lord!
For he has heard my cry for mercy.
The Lord is my strength and shield.
I trust him with all my heart. (Psalm 28:6-7a, NLT)

Question: How has God blessed you lately that is far beyond what would be “fair”?

About this Author: http://thelife.com/experience/devotionalformen/authors/darren-hewer/

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