First of all let me just say I love this series "the Why's of Man". Why? See! Because whys are the BIG questions we have in life that often opens our eyes to new perspectives. When we ask these questions, whether or not we receive an answer, our lives will surely change.
I remember one of my nieces when she was around 3 years old. She was so curious about the world that she keeps asking why.
When you tell her, "go brush your teeth." Why? Because your teeth are gonna hurt if you don't. Why? Because when we eat bacteria goes into our mouths that causes toothache. But why?
They have endless sources of Why's.
I read a study that says if you're tired of answering a toddlers endless Why's. The solution is to return the question to them. "Why do you think you need to brush your teeth?"
This way you spared yourself from explaining and you also helped the child develop her critical thinking.
What's the point of this? Because that's exactly what I'm going to do tonight.
Our topic tonight is, "Why is Life Unfair?"
So to return the question. What do you think? Why is life unfair? Leave your answers in the comment section below and we'll close this with a prayer.
As a disclaimer. I can't guarantee I would be able to answer that question but let me say this: the bible never claimed that life is fair. In fact lets open our bibles to Psalm 73. It is a psalm about a man, Asaph, a worship leader for the nation of Israel, wrestling with the huge problem of the unfairness of life.
"For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills." (Psalms 73:3-5)
That was how Asaph saw other people around him. The rich people who seemed to have it all. The wicked people in power. The rebellious people who don't worship God. These people seem to be enjoying life and they seem to have all the blessings.
In verses 13-14 Asaph says, "Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments."
When Asaph saw how other people's lives are, he then compared it into His life. While Asaph's Facebook friends seem to have these #relationshipgoals, #travelgoals, #lifegoals, #financialgoals, here he was suffering and I can just imagine him asking this question: why is life unfair?
See? It wasn't just you.
Look at Joseph in Genesis 37-40. Joseph was Jacob's favorite son. One day Jacob gave him a cool jacket and all of Joseph's brothers suddenly became envious of him. What did they do? They planned to kill him. Imagine your own brothers - family members tried to kill you and sold you as a slave. Joseph's sufferings didn't end there. In Egypt where he was a servant of Potiphar he was wrongfully accused of harassing his masters wife. Because of that, he was thrown into prison and just when he actually had the chance to get out, the cupbearer who was suppose to bail him out forgot about him.
If you were Joseph, wouldn't you ask yourself "why is life unfair?"
What did Joseph do to deserve this? He just accepted a cool jacket pasalubong from his dad!
The point here is. Don't you ever accept a jacket from your dad or your siblings may get jealous and sell you out as a slave.
Anyways, if you were Joseph wouldn't you ask yourself "why is life unfair?"
If you google this question there's a lot of answer to it actually. Some says, God has a reason for everything you are going through. Some says life is unfair because people are selfish and are taking advantage of others. If you want those answers then go ahead just google it.
But I want us tonight to dig deeper into this question. Let us examine the very root of the question "why is life unfair?"
Root #1 : We often see that life is unfair because we look at other people too much.
Like Asaph, he looked at the lives of the wicked. He saw how they prosper. And what happened to him? He started comparing his life, his situation to other people's lives.
When we fix our eyes on people we tend to compare our lives with them. This brings out either discontentment and pride.
Discontent because we aren't satisfied with what we have so we covet what other people have. And its easier to do today, just look up social media and you can easily see people's filtered picture perfect life flash before your eyes. And be honest with me. Tell me you haven't even once felt a little envious about what they have. Or haven't you ever felt so little about yourself because these people, you don't even know, seem to have it all? 1 Cor 13:4 says "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast. . ."
God called us to love people not to be envious of them.
So that's discontentment and Pride because when we look at other people we also tend to boast about what we have that other people don't have.
Root #2 : We often see that life is unfair because we look at ourselves too much.
Like Job's wife. Job lost his children and all he owns and yet he refuses to curse God. But his wife however said to him Job 2:9, "Why do you still trust God? Why don't you curse him and die?"
It's as if his wife was saying "what did you do to deserve such treatment from God?"
And that's the problem. We "think" we are too good to deserve the things that are happening in our lives. "Mabait naman ako" "Wala naman akong ginagawang masama." "Wala naman akong inaapakang ibang tao."
We become self-righteous.
When we fix our eyes on ourselves, our situation, our problems we become conceited and self-righteous that we start to think that there are people more deserving of the things we are suffering for.
You see? This question "why is life unfair" is actually rooted in "discontentment, self-righteousness and pride"
Don't get me wrong. Asking "why life is unfair" is a valid question. After all what you are feeling is valid. Your emotions of being left out, or your pain, or your anger, or your sufferings. They are all valid. I, too experience this. What you have been through is real. So you may find yourself asking why is life unfair and that's okay.
What I'm trying to do here is to simply help us see why we are asking this question. And unfortunately most people who ask why is life unfair doesn't realize that they are coming from a heart that is discontented with God or prideful and self-righteous.
We are not contented with our lives because we see others prosper - even people who we think don't deserve the life & blessings they are enjoying. People like criminals, bad people, corrupt government officials, that bad neighbor, or that person at work you hate the most.
Its like we're telling God. "God you are not giving me what I deserve."
You know what? If God were to give us what we deserve - here's what we deserve. "For the wages of sin is death. . . " (Romans 6:23)
We deserve death, eternal separation from God, eternal suffering, hell. That's what a sinner like you and me deserve.
The bible also says in Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Yes. All. That includes the people whose lives you are envious of. That artist who is so pretty or handsome unlike you, that influencer who has thousands of followers, that friend on Facebook who always travels while you cant even have a day off at work, those billionaires who seem to be bathing in riches. All of them including you and me. We're all sinners.
And God who is holy, righteous and just would demand a payment for our sins by giving us what we deserve - judgement. We all deserve hell because of our sins.
Asking why life is unfair is like demanding God what we deserve.
Why is life unfair?
I'm sorry. In the end I really don't have the answer to this question. But what I do know is that if you feel like life hasn't been fair to you, it surely hasn't been fair to Jesus.
You tried looking at other. You tried looking at yourself. This time lets look at Jesus. Lets fix our eyes on Jesus.
We see in his life that out of every person in the world, Jesus should be the one to complain about the unfairness of life.
Imagine the God of all creation clothes himself in human flesh, a body that could feel pain, be anxious, be wounded. Imagine the unlimited God made himself limited by taking a form of a little baby boy born in a stinking manger. Imagine the creator came to his creation but he wasn't recognized by the very people he created.
Imagine the creator killed by his own creations. Yes our sins killed Jesus on the cross. The one person who was tempted but never sinned. Tortured and died on the cross for our sins. For something he didn't do just so you and me wont get the hell that we deserve. And so that you and me would get the eternal life that we don't deserve.
For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
Yes life may have been unfair to you HERE. It has been for all of us. But God promised a better life than this. An eternal life. Where there will be no more tears nor sorrow nor pain nor sufferings. He promised this to the people who would receive him as their Lord and savior.
This free gift of salvation is available for all. After all its a gift. And just like a gift you have the option to receive it or reject it.
But if you are one of those people who wants this free gift of salvation, I'm inviting you to pray this prayer with me. and i want you to pray this with your mouth. Loudly if you can. But most importantly pray this with your whole heart.
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