​

Fair Versus Just

​

​

​

​

“That’s not fair.”, says every five-year-old, everywhere, everyday.  “That’s not fair.”, thinks the 25-year-old, the 45-year-old, and the 75-year-old living in a world where “fairness” has never been, but has always been strangely expected.

 

I try to explain to my children (and myself) that life is not fair.  Then, when the pie is cut and I get a smaller slice, I realize how desperately I want it to be.  Why is there a burning desire within for this unattainable thing called fairness? Perhaps because the desire is actually a desire for justice, and though we are incapable of being perfectly just, we are capable of believing there is a justice that exists which can be seen, known, and accomplished by One greater than ourselves.  

 

The words fair and just are difficult to define and quantify.  Here is how the dictionary defines them.

Fair-[fer]  ADJECTIVE

1. in accordance with the rules or standards; legitimate.

Just-[jəst]  ADJECTIVE

1. based on or behaving according to what is morally right and fair.

In general, most people equate fairness with quantifiable equality.  We divide what is to be divided into equal portions. We protect life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness not just for some people in our country, but for all people.  That is fair. Fair also means that we follow the same rules. If there is a law against littering and you litter, yours is the consequence, whether or not you knew about the litter law.  Sometimes our standards are not typed in black and white, but take on the form of expectations commonly held. We expect people who work harder, to be paid more. When the rules or standard measures by which we evaluate fairness are established, most people can tell you whether or not something is fair.  Rules are rules.

 

Justice on the other hand, is defined as what is morally right, in addition to being quantifiably fair.  If someone is injured as a result of an unavoidable accident, and yet another person incurs the same injury as a result of a premeditated act of spite, we treat the perpetrators differently.  Morality looks deeper than obvious facts. Morality takes the whole picture into account. The moral person makes the best decision he or she can, given human limitations which keep us from seeing the whole.  There is One who does see the whole and who also can right all wrongs, ultimately it is His justice we long for.

 

When it goes against your grain to accept that life is unfair, remember that God is a just God.  Life may look unfair, it may feel unfair, maybe for a lifetime. There is more than just this lifetime, and from infinity to infinity, justice will reign.  I am trying a new approach with my five-year-old, and with myself, as many times a five-years-old as I am.

 

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”  Micah 6:8 (ESV)

 

I. I will pray for wisdom to act justly, and avail myself to the grace which will allow me to do it.

II. I will love kindness.  The kindness of God that sent Jesus to save me.  The kindness He has placed inside of me that points to His kindness.  I will love that kind of kindness more than I love things being fair.

III. I will pray for humility.  I will put it on. I will walk with God, who possesses both justice and mercy, perfectly.

“That’s not fair.”, says every five-year-old, everywhere, everyday.  “That’s not fair.”, thinks the 25-year-old, the 45-year-old, and the 75-year-old living in a world where “fairness” has never been, but has always been expected.

 

“I am just.” answers the Holy One in reply.

​

And as it turns out, that is we were longing for.

​

​