Unfairness

Mat 20:1  For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.

Mat 20:2  And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

Mat 20:3  And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

Mat 20:4  And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.

Mat 20:5  Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.

Mat 20:6  And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?

Mat 20:7  They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.

Mat 20:8  So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.

Mat 20:9  And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.

Mat 20:10  But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.

Mat 20:11  And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,

Mat 20:12  Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.

Mat 20:13  But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?

Mat 20:14  Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.

Mat 20:15  Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?

Mat 20:16  So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

Unfairness.

How often in life do we lament the unfairness of many situations?  Seriously, how often?  We judge situations and often we find a sympathetic ear to agree with our assessment.  Once we find that sympathetic ear we reinforce our idea of being treated unfairly.  Then again there are universal ideas of what if fair and what isn't.  We realize that LIFE isn't fair. All too often things happen that make this clear.  In the above parable the householder hired several people at different times and then paid them all the same, the one who worked eight hours and the one who worked a half an hour, same paid.  Clearly the ones who worked all day valued their hard work, their time, and felt  cheated.  Wouldn't we ALL feel the same way? Seriously, wouldn't we? Yet our idea of fairness and God's are not the same, that cannot be, He is everything.  A person who spends their entire life in Him, fighting the spiritual warfare all the time, failing, repenting, over and over again- and the person who accepts Christ at the end of their life after living a life of blatant sin, are given the same reward of eternal life in Christ.  Do we resent ANY who come to Christ and gain eternal life? We shouldn't.  And by God's grace we won't. 

In our lives we have to comprehend that what is unfair to us could in fact be a special blessing by God molding us, refining us.  It's not going to feel good, it's not going to be pleasant. The molding and refining all of it, the chastising is unpleasant and will make us feel anything but fairness is going on in our life's walk.

We have to holdfast to the promises, not the present, the future hope, not the hard here and now.  The future.  We have to get through the long journey, the very long arduous journey we call life- all by HIS GRACE, HIS LOVE, HIS MERCY, HIS KINDNESS!

In the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior, our all in all.