Fairness

From the time my kids could talk they have had a concept of fairness, just like all of us. When they were little though they learned to avoid saying something wasn't fair. They heard the "fairness" lecture too many times from me and it was not something to look forward to.

We all have a sense that things should be fair but aren't. As soon as we think we are wronged or that someone else has something we don't but we are equally deserving we trot out the fairness argument. What my kids learned from me (or at least heard from me) is that we tend to only look one way on the fairness street. We tend only to look at those who have more than us when we measure fairness and living in America (apologies to James Brown) in the 21st century and complaining about not having more as unfair is ridiculous. We need a bigger perspective on life in the world to get a true idea of fairness. Just as often we need to remind ourselves or be reminded of what is truly important in order to worry about fairness.

Jesus had to speak about fairness on several occasions (see Matthew 20 for example). In the kingdom of God, fairness isn't measured the same way. We get more than fairness, we get grace. All through the first chapters of Genesis is this concept as people sin and rebel against God and yet He perseveres in the human experiment, even in Noah and his family. God could have started over without Noah and the rest of the menagerie on the ark, He could have made all things new without using any of the corrupted creation. I don't want fairness, I want grace.
(Check out this interview with Bono on the issue of grace v. fairness/karma)