Life is Not Fair

Life is Not Fair
Copyright © 2007 Good News Publications

The United States Constitution declares that all men (referring to men and women) are created equal and that they are entitled to such rights as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It's a wonderful concept and we have seen those who have benefited tremendously in their pursuit of happiness and we have seen those who, with little or no pursuit, have not benefited.

Somewhere along the line, we natural-born American citizens have adopted the idea that our constitution puts a demand on life that says life must be fair to us.

This thinking says that since I am born equal to everyone else, I should have what everyone else has as well. There are two problems with this-first they have overlooked the word "pursuit" and secondly, life is not and never will be "fair".

For those that look to God for the matters of life, this is a good thing. While we do believe that life comes from God Who created all things, life is still not fair. Life may present an equal opportunity to all, but there is still "pursuit" involved and even with this pursuit, the results of those opportunities may be unequal. Let me explain.

Matthew 13:3: And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

Now just looking at this verse we have to consider something. When someone sows seed do they receive back just what they've sown? That would be called "fair"-sow one and get one back. But when a farmer sows seed, he always receives back much more, way out of proportion to what he has sown. Now let's look at the whole parable.

Matthew 13:1-9: The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

All seed was the same and had equal opportunity, but not all had the same results, depending on its situation. Even the seed that landed on good ground all had the same opportunity but they produced at different levels. The seed planted did not yield seed for seed but some thirty, some sixty and some hundredfold.

In this parable, Christ tells us that the seed is the Word of God and I John tells us that the Word of God is life.

Life in its basic state has two major components-first that life itself is to be lived and enjoyed then secondly, life has the ability to reproduce itself. Some Christians would say that our main purpose is to give this gift of life away to others meaning to witness to other about life after death.

I believe that the church epistles contain much more about living this life we have now than only being here to evangelize others. The wonderful side benefit of living this life to the full is when we do it, we attract others who want what we have so we can then give it away.

Let's look at another example.

I Peter 1:23: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

The physical seed is called "corruptible" not because it is bad, but because it doesn't last forever. But that one seed and one egg unite and multiply many times over, producing more seeds or eggs-once again showing that life produces more than just itself.

Is it "fair" or "equitable" that all we had to do was confess Jesus as lord and believe that God raised him from the dead and we received salvation and everything that comes with it?

God did not design life to be fair or equitable-that would mean equal return for equal effort. Thank God He created it with far greater capacity than that. God designed life to return bountiful, limitless portions to all who pursue it. We desperately need to understand this truth, so we can live our lives to the fullest and enjoy God's blessings are without limit.

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Duke Clarke is a writer/teacher/coach to help individuals reach their full potential in life. Go to http://www.TheThinkingChristianInstitute.com or http://www.DukeClarke.com for more information.