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the past couple of sermons at church have got me thinking about the whole ‘is God fair’ and ‘how does God judge’ topics.

this week was the question, “is God fair?” we discussed very generally the approaches of exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism, and then considered briefly some scenarios like the kid in africa who’s never heard the Gospel and the mentally handicapped teen who might not ever have it explained to him/her in a way they can understand with words, etc. how will God judge these people? is it based on what they know about what they’ve experienced in life, or is it based on whether or not they get a clear presentation of the Gospel?

and while i have my own thoughts about it, the point made at the end of the sermon was what hit home the most, even as our family is dealing with some rather serious and challenging health issues this week…

God is not fair. God is gracious.

if God were fair, we would all deserve worse. and the definition of ‘fair’ varies greatly between each of us. some of us may think it’s not fair that we don’t have air conditioning in our bedroom. others may think it’s not fair that not everyone has running water. so we were encouraged to leave the judging of eternal destiny to God (He’s a big boy), and focus more on recognizing His grace in our lives.

and to me, this is huge stuff. cuz if God is who He says He is, then whether or not He’s fair in my mind really makes no difference, and how i choose to respond to His message of salvation will.