Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Let’s continue our elimination of excuses by focusing on faithfulness to God over the desired fairness from Him.

Jesus said in today’s scripture, John 21:18-22 (NLT)…
[18] “I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” [19] Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him, “Follow me.” [20] Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved—the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, “Lord, who will betray you?” [21] Peter asked Jesus, “What about him, Lord?” [22] Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.”

Consider…
There’s a saying, ‘be careful what you wish for, you just might get it’, which means that what one desires is not necessarily what will make one happy. It also means that once you obtain something that you once wished for, having it may have negative consequences that were unexpected.

People that are obsessed with the fairness of God don’t appear to be familiar with Psalms 103:10 (NLT), which explains…
[10] He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.

You see if God was only fair, we would receive the death that our sin has earned. Romans 6:23 (NLT) confirms…
[23] For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

And in fairness, Romans 3:23 says we’ve all signed and fall short of God’s standard. Thus to be fair, we’re all deserving of death.

I believe, in our eagerness for fairness, we forget our past. Ephesians 2:1-3 (NLT) reminds us…
[1] Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. [2] You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. [3] All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

A good verse to remember when we want God to be fair, in our opinion, is Colossians 3:13 (NLT), which instructs…
[13] Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

Notice the verse ends with treat others the way you remember God treated you. This verse became real to me as a father, because whenever I would punish my children for their behavior, the Holy Spirit would remind me of the mercy and grace God showed to me. I became more loving and compassionate, seeking to inspire my children to be good with love rather than frightening them to not be bad out of fear.

Whenever I needed to discipline my children I remembered 1 John 4:9-10 (NLT), which says…
[9] God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. [10] This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

God responded to our sin with His love and grace. Grace by the way is…
God’s
Righteousness
At
Christ’s
Expense

Talk about unfair, 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT) says…
[21] For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

It’s from that perspective that I am convicted for sometimes responding like Peter in today’s scripture. Notice when Peter was told how he would die, he looked at John and said to Jesus, “What about him, Lord?”

While we may not point to someone else and say what about them, we say the same thing when we ask God, “why me, Lord?”

I believe God wants us to transform our thinking to one that aligns with Tasha Page-Lockhart who sings…

I’m the perfect person to go through the storm
It won’t break me, it won’t kill me, I’ll move on
And then I’ll come out even better than before
And I’ll nеver see this place anymore
‘Causе my faith is gettin’ stronger every day
I’m removin’ everything that’s in my way
And the fact that I survived another day
Makes me say
Why not me?

Why not me?
Why, why, why?

She continues…

One day I’m up, the next I’m down
Problems comin’ faster than I can count
Who can I run to? No one to talk to
Can’t somebody tell me what to do?
Why did I do it? Why did this happen to me?
You can get through it, you just have to believe
What I do now, gotta make it all count
So why not me?

No matter what’s going on, God wants us to serve Him faithfully.

That fact makes me think of Colossians 3:22-24 (NLT), which instructs…
[22] Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord. [23] Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. [24] Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.

The Apostle Paul didn’t say slaves work for your earthly masters because they’re good, he said serve because of your reverence for God! We’re told to work for others as unto the Lord in service to Christ our Master.

I am also reminded of Jesus’ admonition to His disciples in Matthew 20:26-28 (NLT)…
[26] But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, [27] and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. [28] For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

God wants us to be more focused on faithfully serving others for Him than being recognized by Him.

So the next time you’re tempted to question God’s fairness, remember His mercy and grace already shown in your life. The fact that you’re alive to question Him, is evidence of His…

• Unconditional love
• Undesreved mercy
• and Unexplainable grace

That reminds me of a moment when, I was told by a friend, one of my young children was complaining about me on social media. My response to the concerned person was I am not worried about what’s being said via the phone that I provided and pay the bill for monthly. I think that’s similar to how God responds to our cries for fairness. God’s not worried about His child’s complaints of fairness, when they’re living under His…

• Unfailing LOVE
• Unending MERCY
• and Unlimited GRACE

By definition, God’s grace is unfair because it’s better than we deserve.

Let’s focus on being faithful to God.

Today’s song is…
Why Not Me

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)