It was a beautiful Saturday morning so Betty brought over
her son Bobby for a play date with her best friend Sherry’s boy Stephen. The two boys were playing in the yard as
the women sat on the porch sharing a cup of coffee and parenting stories. Right in the middle of a good laugh they were
having, a ruckus between the two boys erupted.
Bobby came running to his mother, tears in his eyes. “What’s the matter Bobby?” “It’s not fair!”, Bobby blubbered. The two women gave each other a knowing
glance for a moment. “what’s not fair
Bobby?”, Sherry asked. “Stephen won’t
let me play with his truck.”, cried Bobby.
“Well, there are plenty of cars you can play with”, said Batty. “But I want to play with the truck!” Bobby screamed. “It’s NOT FAIR!”
Oh how I wish that this was only the problems of 4 year olds playing with hot wheels on a Saturday morning. Unfortunately it isn’t. I hear this same type of cry coming from adults nearly every day. It’s not fair that they make a lot of money and I don’t. It’s not fair that they get to get married and I don’t. It’s not fair… It’s not fair… It’s not fair… I could list a hundred things I have hears in the last month or so that someone argued that something wasn’t fair. Usually when a child claims something isn’t fair, they really mean that they did not get their way, or get the toy they wanted. It is no different in adults. They want to have their own way, or they are unhappy that someone has something they don’t, or they are unhappy that someone disagrees with them. Then comes the temper tantrum.
The adult children are just like little bobby in the short story above. You try to explain to them that the truck doesn’t belong to them, it belongs to Stephen, but they don’t seem to hear or care and just scream and cry louder about how unfair that is. No matter how hard you explain to some adults that someone else worked harder than them and earned the right to have more money, they still feel it is unfair that someone else gets it and not them, even though they did nothing. Just like the child, many adults want the “parent” to step in and make Stephen share the truck. This is how people feel justified in taxing the rich and giving it to others who did not earn it through entitlement programs. I don’t have what you do so I’ll have someone bigger than you take it away and give it to me.
Someone just recently was telling me about how greedy capitalists are and how CEOs don’t need that much money and how unfair it was to workers that they did not get as much as the CEO. I finally had to ask them; maybe it is you who is the greedy one. You want what they have, but you don’t want to put in the work they did to get it. You just expect that you deserve it for no other reason than your idea of “fairness”.
Then it hit me. This is really a problem with human nature, the sinful nature of man. All of this crying and moaning I hear anbout all of the things that are unfair boil down to this, someone else has something that you want. It can be something material like money, or it can be something intangible like being happy, or being able to marry, privilidge, power, influence, whatever. It all boils down to one thing, coveting.
Exodus 20:17
Oh how I wish that this was only the problems of 4 year olds playing with hot wheels on a Saturday morning. Unfortunately it isn’t. I hear this same type of cry coming from adults nearly every day. It’s not fair that they make a lot of money and I don’t. It’s not fair that they get to get married and I don’t. It’s not fair… It’s not fair… It’s not fair… I could list a hundred things I have hears in the last month or so that someone argued that something wasn’t fair. Usually when a child claims something isn’t fair, they really mean that they did not get their way, or get the toy they wanted. It is no different in adults. They want to have their own way, or they are unhappy that someone has something they don’t, or they are unhappy that someone disagrees with them. Then comes the temper tantrum.
The adult children are just like little bobby in the short story above. You try to explain to them that the truck doesn’t belong to them, it belongs to Stephen, but they don’t seem to hear or care and just scream and cry louder about how unfair that is. No matter how hard you explain to some adults that someone else worked harder than them and earned the right to have more money, they still feel it is unfair that someone else gets it and not them, even though they did nothing. Just like the child, many adults want the “parent” to step in and make Stephen share the truck. This is how people feel justified in taxing the rich and giving it to others who did not earn it through entitlement programs. I don’t have what you do so I’ll have someone bigger than you take it away and give it to me.
Someone just recently was telling me about how greedy capitalists are and how CEOs don’t need that much money and how unfair it was to workers that they did not get as much as the CEO. I finally had to ask them; maybe it is you who is the greedy one. You want what they have, but you don’t want to put in the work they did to get it. You just expect that you deserve it for no other reason than your idea of “fairness”.
Then it hit me. This is really a problem with human nature, the sinful nature of man. All of this crying and moaning I hear anbout all of the things that are unfair boil down to this, someone else has something that you want. It can be something material like money, or it can be something intangible like being happy, or being able to marry, privilidge, power, influence, whatever. It all boils down to one thing, coveting.
Exodus 20:17
Thou shalt not covet thy
neighbour's house, thou shalt
not covet thy neighbour's wife,
nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing
that is thy neighbour's.
Whether it is gays who want to marry, or people who want to raise the minimum wage, or have universal healthcare, or whatever, it is all about being unsatisfied with your own condition and coveting another’s. The carnal man always wants something more than he has and usually wants what he sees others have.
For the spiritual man it is different though. And to be clear, by spiritual man, I mean a person who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior and submitted themselves to His Lordship in their lives. Someone who has put their trust in God through Jesus does not have these concerns of the material world. For the unbeliever, here is all there is. For the believer, here is just a temporary passage and our eternal state lies ahead. This is what allows the believer to not be greedy and covetous and learn as Paul did, Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. This is the antidote to greed and covetousness; Contentment that is to be found in Christ Jesus.
This contentment and satisfaction found in Jesus is probably one of the most “fair” things available to us humans. It is available to any human being at any time during this earthly life. You have the same opportunity to receive it as any other person on the face of the globe. You don’t have to worry about being too poor to get it. You don’t have to be concerned that you’ll be turned away for any reason. There is no way that would disqualify you from this offer. There is no discrimination based on any type of division of color, race, creed, sex, disability, age, orientation, or any other distinction one can come up with.
All you have to do is recognize your sinfulness and your need of savior and believe in Jesus. Believe that He was who he said He was, the son of the living God, the Messiah, sent into the world for forgiveness of sins. That He died on the cross in your place. And believe that God raised him from the dead on the third day, overcoming death so that you too could overcome death to spend eternity with God, in Heaven.
John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He
that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
1 comment:
Great example, great point! The opportunity for a relationship with our Creator is fairly offered to all! Messiah's made forgiveness available to each and everyone. Nothing could be more fair!
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