Seeking An Unfair God

(Cross-Posted at Moms In The Right)

Jesus Christ is just so unfair...and it's one of the things I love most about him!  Imagine:

You work for 8 hours at a job, and someone who shows up and does the same job for only an hour gets paid the same amount as you do!  Unfair.

You buy 100 lottery tickets, and someone else out there played their favorite numbers on just one ticket.  Since those favorite numbers also happened to be on one of your tickets, you have to split the jackpot.  You don't split it $100 to $1.  You must split it 50/50.  Unfair!

You work your whole life to feed the poor, help orphans, befriend widows - all from the love in your heart because of Jesus.  And that murderer who comes to a genuine and humble relationship with Jesus in the last months or days (or moments) of his life?  You both get to go to Heaven.  Unfair!

Jesus told a story like this in Matthew 20 in the parable of the workers in the vineyard.  There were some workers who worked a full day's labor, while some workers arrived on the job just before quitting time...and the owner of the vineyard decides to pay them all the same amount.  Unfair!

I love what the vineyard owner says to those disgusted and enraged workers who put in a full day of work:

"Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money?  Or are you envious because I am generous?"

Just as that vineyard owner has the right to decide how he pays his workers, God gets to decide who he lets into Heaven. 

This idea of "deathbed salvation" rubs a lot of people the wrong way.  In fact, in my conversations with people who are not Christians, this is one of the things that they site as turning them off to Christianity.  Who wants to follow a God who would let Mother Theresa and a murderer into the same Heaven?  

I'll tell you something...assuming that Mother Theresa is in Heaven, she is absolutely there with murderers.  And thieves.  And liars.  And adulterers.  

In fact, I can think of one guy that shares Heaven with the likes of Mother Theresa...the guy who died on the cross right next to Jesus.  The Bible isn't clear on that man's exact crimes, but you can be sure he'd lived a pretty awful life.  Crucifixion was reserved for only the worst criminals, and that guy was hanging on a cross.  He had lived a terrible life, and yet he was saved from Hell.  

So what does it take to get to Heaven?  Some would say "proper baptism".  That man on the cross was not baptized.  Some would say "living a good life" or "do more good than bad".  That man did not live a good life.  Some would say "observe church sacraments".  That man did not.   Some would say "become enlightened".  Again, no (at least not in the sense that the phrase is used today).  Some would even say "tithe".  Nope.

What did that man do to deserve the paradise that Jesus promised him?  All he did was express his heartfelt faith in who Jesus was and what he did (or was doing at the time).  His words indicated a true and genuine and saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Is it fair that any sinful person can go to Heaven?  Not in the least!  But God has shown us time and time again that he's not about "fair".  God is about love.  God is about generosity.  God is about grace.

So I guess the only question left is similar to the one asked of the vineyard workers:  Doesn't God have the right to do what he chooses, or are you envious that he is generous with his love?

Please link up and share your experiences with the Lord this week.  Remember - link only to your STLS post and not to your main blog address!

Seek The Lord Sunday Participants

1. Vanessa

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