It Is Not Fair!

Seems like everyone is suddenly very upset because so many things are not fair.  Apparently an entire generation has been intently focused on things that are not fair and they are mad and motivated.  They have come of age and they are upset.

On the one hand this is exciting news.  Some good changes are certainly on the way with all this new energy being unleashed against unfairness.  On the other hand, this is not the first generation to throw itself fully against what is unfair.

As a person who was a teen in the 1960’s in the USA I saw Martin Luther King, Jr. go beyond what was fair.  He dreamed of and fought for something much greater than what is fair.  He called a generation to be fair and to love at the same time.  He died for more than fairness.  He died for love, too.

As noble a goal as fighting what is unfair is, it is far short of what is needed.  Unfair only gives way to genuine, sacrificial love.  I believe that is what Dr. King believed because he believed in Jesus.

I know the passion for fairness is wonderful to feel and to see.  Even so, I pray that among those who are screaming so loudly in other people’s faces there  would be many who remember that fair needs love and true love is always fair and even more than fair.

Jesus never used the word fair.  He used the word just.  Just includes love that is fair.  It is hard to think of Jesus getting up in anyone’s face screaming.  It is easy to see him getting up on the cross bleeding.  Kind of reminds me of Martin Luther King, Jr.  I never saw him scream in anyone’s face and I never saw him back down or stop loving.

Bud McCord

Abide International

Receive Mode

“The just shall live by Faith.”

Romans 1:17

A just person is one  who loves the right person, at the right time, in the right way and in the right measure.  A just person does not simply want to do this.  A just person does this continuously.

Anyone who attempts to be just will soon learn that loving the right person, at the right time, in the right way and in the right measure is beyond human ability. 

People, including ourselves, are very complex to love justly over time.

The source of justice is God.  Only an intimate connection to and receptivity from perfect justice can make one just.  This connection and receptivity for justice has been made available to us by faith in Jesus who is God’s justice for us and in us forever.  Simply put, Jesus in us must be our continous justice.

The secret of a just life is not effort.  It is receptivity or “receive mode”.  Our ability to be just is directly connected to our growing awareness that in Christ we are being continuously loved as the right person, at the right time, in the right way and in the right measure.  It takes this justice perceived and received continously from Jesus  to allow this same justice to be released by us.

When we focus on being just we become frustrated and weary.  When we focus on and receive justice moment by moment from the perfect presence of Jesus in us by the Spirit, we begin to release one day at a time the justice we are receiving.

Focusing on how justly we have been and are being treated by Father, Son and Holy Spirit right now awakens justice in us. Receiving this justice one day at a time and moment by moment equips us with the right justice today’s complex people.  Releasing this same justice to the people who come into our lives each day becomes possible and sustainable in Jesus.

Do not worry about being just.  Let Jesus be the One who is your justice and you will find you can release the kind of justice you receive each day from the Father in Christ by the Spirit.

The just are the right people receiving the justice of God in Christ at the right time, in the right way and in the right measure.  Living like this in the ‘receive mode’ the just can release this same justice they receive from Jesus.

Jesus makes being a just person possible as we receive from Him. “Receive mode” toward Jesus in us makes justice possible. Justice is for those who can receive it.

Bud McCord

Abide International