Not Fair!!!

Luke 23:39-43
And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Drive by a local ball park and you'll hear these words every time... "That's not fair! Come on ref, make a fair call." Better yet, drive by the local courthouse or jail and you'll hear the same thing. How many of us have made this same statement? I'm sure that we all have at sometime.

An awesome discovery in the Bible is that word, "fair". Most every time it is used it is describing the beauty of a person (mostly women of the Bible). It tells of their outward beauty. The scriptures say things like... "A fair young virgin, she was fair to look upon, or he had a fair countenance." When we think of fair we often think of how we are treated and not how we look.

The truth of it all is that life isn't fair or pretty at times. Situations that life and sin throws at us are some of the ugliest things that we can think of. Did you know that in the book of Isaiah it says when Jesus was dying on the cross that there was no beauty in Him that we are attracted to Him? The cross is such an ugly image. A man, the Son of God, being brutally murdered on a wooden cross. Now think of it... There is absolutely nothing fair or beautiful about that! Someone who never sinned or done wrong, dying for us who have.

But read all the scripture today. Don't you just love how one man says, "It's not fair!" While the other says, "We are getting what we deserve! This man has done nothing wrong." Then Jesus hears the prayer of the deserving sinner and gives him something that isn't fair. He gives him life eternal. He gives him the fair haven of Heaven. Hallelujah! I'm glad life isn't fair.