Is God fair?

What a question! In our Wednesday evening Bible study, we were all given a blank piece of paper and asked to respond to this question. Wow! The answers we received created no small stir. Personally, I think it was great! If there is anything that needs to happen from time to time, it's just what happened tonight. We were challenged to think about how we understand God. Of course that's right on target with the theme of this blog.

Now, I know it's late, but I've been thinking about this all night, so I've just got to put some thoughts and insights down before I sleep. First, let me say that I think all the answers I heard had merit. In fact, if the question had been, "Is God just?" instead of "Is God fair?" then the class would have responded with a unanimous affirmative, "Yes, God is just!" The entire discussion tonight revolved around understanding the definition of "fair." By the way, there was a great effort made to leave the answer open, so we can come back to it next week. Don't miss next Wednesday evening. It should be GREAT!

Let me go back to my response. I said, "No, God is not fair. He is just." That's because there is a difference between justice and fairness. Now, that difference has been somewhat obscurred because language is not static but always changing. So let me illustrate why I could dare say that God, who is perfect in every way, is not fair, but that He is just.

You see, we begin to understand fairness as children, somewhere between the ages of 6 and 8 years old. According to Dr. Adele M. Brodkin, Ph.D., this is the age when a "child can grasp the concept of fairness for the first time." He also says "that child development experts have dubbed this the 'age of reason' because for the first time we can actually expect children to be logical." (For more on this see www.scholastic.com/schoolage/experts/behavior/6_8_notfair.htm)

If we were to define, "fair," as just or right then there is no doubt about God being just or right. The problem really stems from humanism and its effect on our culture. Fairness is rooted in reason, and elevates human reason. In order to answer the question, "Is God fair?", one must become the judge. If I sit in judgment over the deeds or actions of anyone, then I elevate reason above their action. I cannot judge God. I cannot declare that he meets my standards of fairness. Isaiah 55:8-9 records:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Humanism has been responsible for "fairness laws in this country." Fairness laws have removed personal responsibility and opened a "Pandora's box" of problems for our legal system. Our laws should be based on Biblical Authority and not humanistic reasoning. This has resulted in some absurd decisions in our courts beginning with the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Later Handicapped Children sued their parents for letting them be born. (See Research in Principles of Life Advanced Seminar Textbook pp. 15-17.)

The Word of God is the final authority in our life. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. (Matthew 24:35)

Absolute truth would declare that God is just and right whether He measures up to our ideas of fairness or not. God does not have to be fair. He is so much more than that. He is Holy, Just, Righteous, Perfect! Since God is perfect it is difficult for those of us who have partaken of the poison of humanistic education to reason that the lofty idea of fairness could not or should not be applied to God. Consider this, He is perfect in all His ways, and we are admonished to be perfect as He is perfect, but that's a topic for another time.

Finally, I am so thankful that God's perfect justice and holiness, met His awesome love and mercy in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. In Him the price was paid for my sin on the cross. It certainly isn't fair that someone should have to pay for another's sin, but that's just what Jesus did for me, and you. Accept that love and mercy today, and make the God connection.

NO WAY? YES, WAY!

Doesn't it seem sometimes like temptation is a trap? The truth is that we have an enemy who is on the prowl. In fact the Bible says it this way in 1 Peter 5:8:

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

A lion is a hunter and this enemy will set a trap for you. When you fall into one of his traps it seems like there is just no way to escape! Today's word is for someone who feels like it is hopeless to overcome this crafty enemy. Just when you think everything is going so well, it happens. The trap is sprung, and you are snared! Listen to the good news from one of Paul's letters to the church at Corinth, in 1 Corinthians 10:12-13

¹²So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! ¹³No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

So you're thinking, "No way," and God's message is, "Yes, way!" I am thankful for this promise that God will not put on us more than we can bear. Follow this logic. If His word is true, then this word is true, and no matter how I feel or what I think about the present situation, He says, "Yes, you can!" Yes, we can bear it. He has provided us a way out so that we can stand up under whatever the enemy throws at us. That means that today there is a way for me, and there is a way for you too! Have a blessed day!

A New Way of Thinking

Yesterday was great! My daughter kept reminding me to learn the verses from Deuteronomy 10:12-13. The good news is that this morning I could still remember these verses. I hope to recite them daily so I can meditate on them later.

Now for this morning. Maybe you have struggled at times like I have with your temper. My worst struggles were some time ago when I would become so angry that I hurt myself. I know it sounds stupid, but it's true! My frustration level would get so high that once I snapped a golf club over my knee and then began hitting myself in the head with one end of it. I have broken things and thrown things, but who knows how many times I have slapped myself. I'm not proud of these things, but I share them because I believe other people also deal with anger, and the hardest person in the world to be angry with is yourself.

One young person said, "you know I'd really be wealthy if I had a dollar for everytime I've lost my temper." Sometimes when we have a bad habit we try to fix it by replacing it with something that's not quite as bad. Maybe instead of hitting someone when we're angry we hit ourself, or to be not quite as bad, we hit something inanimate.

The word for today comes from Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus, Ephesians 4:17-24:

¹⁷So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

²⁰You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. ²¹Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. ²²You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

The only way to really beat a bad habit is to replace it with something good! We can only fix the way we act by fixing the way we think. One great way to fix our stinking thinking it to replace our thought with God's thoughts. That's why we memorize verses from the Bible and later meditate on them. Through the years I have come to control my temper much better, just ask my wife. I really believe that replacing my thoughts with God's thoughts has made all the difference. Have a great day!

A few years ago on Vacation in Italy

For Our Own Good!

Since this is my first posting I want to share my reason for starting this project. I intend to use this sight as a place to record my daily insights from my personal quiet time. This will also allow me to share the same with others. It is my hope that my own pursuit and its record will encourage others to join in, adding their own insights or questions. The ultimate goal, as implied by the name of this blog, is that we might inspire one another to have a new connection with God and others or to renew relationships that have grown cold.

This morning I looked for my quiet time to a these words from Deuteronomy 10:12-13:

And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe all the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good. NIV

My grandfather, the Rev. Richard P. Hocker, was an independent preacher and itenerant evangelist. He could also be described as a Holiness preacher. Let me explain how he defined holiness for himself. Grandpa Hocker would not wear short-sleeved shirt. It was too revealing. He would not wear a necktie because it was an unnecessary "worldly adornment." He wouldn't drink root beer because it said "beer" on the bottle, and he wouldn't drink coffee because it was "strong drink." He wouldn't even chew gum, because someone might think he was using tobacco. Why am I sharing this about Grandpa? He had an attitude that is so different from the prevailing attitude of today's culture. He believed, "if it's questionable, it's dirty." The prevailing attitude today is to see what we can get away with. We seem to think, "How bad can I be and still be accepted by God?"

Wow! We certainly have misunderstood God's plan. Looking again at this text, we learn what God asks of us. He wants us to observe ALL his commands, and He wants us to understand that they are for "our own good!" This morning as I prayed, I asked God to help me to want to obey him more instead of looking for loopholes and trying to get away with all I can! Maybe you will join me in this kind of prayer, and together we will begin a new and more vital connection with God.