Life's not fair; neither is God (that's a good thing)!

Have you ever heard the expression "life's not fair"?  Have you ever said it yourself?  That promotion that you wanted and worked so hard for is given to an undeserving co-worker.  I have uttered it while watching Bridezillas one afternoon:  these beastly, BEASTLY women have somehow convinced a man to marry them; and here I am, single.  Life is just not fair!  Sad but true, people do not usually get what they deserve.

That is the bad news.  Are you ready for some good news?  OK, here it is:  God is not fair, either.

There is a parable Jesus tells His disciples about a certain landowner who needed help harvesting his field (Matthew 20:1-16).  The man goes out at 6am and finds some unemployed folks standing around, and promises them a full days wage for a full days work.  They agree and head off to his field, or vineyard, depending on your translation.  But they aren't enough.  He goes out again at 9am, 12 noon, and 3pm for more folk, promising them that if they go work in his field he will give them whatever is fair.  And still he needs more men.  He goes out one last time, around 5pm, and tells some guys standing around to go and work for him.  No promises of payment he gives these men, just directions to his field.

At 6pm the day is over, and it is now time to pay everybody.  The landowner gives instructions that the last guys, the 5pmers, should be paid first.  Imagine their surprise when he pays them a full days wage!  Did they earn it?  Did they deserve it?  Absolutely not!!!!  Look closely at verses 13-16:  What was the landowner's reason for giving the 5pmers more than they had worked for, more than what they deserved?  He was generous!  He wanted to give them what they didn't deserve!

What do we deserve, according to Romans 6:23?  "The wages of sin is death, BUT the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."  We deserve death; but God is generous and gives us what we do not deserve:  life!  And not just regular life, eternal life!  Do we deserve it?  Have we done anything to earn it?  Can we ever do anything to earn it?  No, no, and no.  If a gift could be earned, it wouldn't be a gift, would it?

Praise God today that He is not fair, that He is generous and gives us undeserved eternal life!