Fairness.

Stop me if this sounds familiar:

"But mom, how come I can't go with my friends?"
"Because I said so!"
"But that's not fair!"
"Life is not fair!"

...Ok, so I know, you can't stop me, I'm writing a blog :) But you understand what I mean: We are all, at some point, under the impression that life is just not fair. There are terrible people in the world, terrible things happen, and not everything happens as we think it should. Quite simply, life really isn't fair. But what if it was? Let's think about this in a Kingdom sense (and when I say Kingdom sense, I am talking about the Kingdom of God, this world that He has given us in which to live and spread His love). IF life were fair, and God just gave us what we deserve, and everything was equal fairness between Him and us...

We would not go to heaven
We would not be able to interact with the Lord like we do
God would punish us like we deserve - which would not be fun, to say the least
There would be no grace to cover our sins
There would be no mercy to forgive us for when we do not do what God wants

and the biggest kicker, the one that assures us that God treating us unfairly is certainly the best:

Jesus would not have come down from Heaven, not have ever lived, not have performed miracles, not have taught us so much of what we know and model our lives after, and would not have died on the cross for our sins.


On the cross, our sin, all of our sin, the thing that separates us from God, was transferred to Christ

.....This is as unfair as it gets!!!


It is absolutely not fair for someone so perfect, God's only son, to come to earth and die a sinner's, criminal's death! Christ did nothing wrong in His entire life - all he died was preach truth and perform miracles - yet he died on the cross for us: It was unfair for Him to take our sins.

So the next time you catch yourself saying, "Life is not fair!" or hear someone else say it, just send a quick prayer up to Heaven and say, "Lord, thank you so much that life is not fair! I am so thankful that you love me so much that you sent your own Son to die for my sins, and gave me a medium to speak to You and worship You through Your Son."

Simplicity.

“It is no good asking for a simple religion. After all, real things are not simple. They look simple, but they are not. The table I am sitting at looks simple; but ask a scientist to tell you what it is really made of – all about the atoms and how the light waves rebound from them and hit my eye and what they do to the optic nerve and what it does to my brain – and, of course, you find that what we call ‘seeing a table’ lands you in mysteries and complications which you can hardly get to the end of. A child saying a child’s prayer looks simple. And if you are content to stop there, well and good. But if you are not – and the modern world usually is not – if you want to go on and ask what is really happening – then you must be prepared for something difficult. If we ask for something more than simplicity, it is silly then to complain that the something more is not simple.” – C.S. Lewis

This is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of C. S. Lewis’s masterful and influential book, Mere Christianity. This book is full of wisdom and teachings of the Christian life at its very core, starting with the simplest concepts and building to tougher ones, such as sexuality, marriage, and death. Which brings us to the word “simple”, and what it actually might mean in both this context and the context of the passage above. Is Christianity a “simple” religion? Do you agree or disagree with this passage? I find that the answer to the first question is both yes and no. Christianity, at its very deepest core, is quite simple: God loves you, and He is perfect. You are not perfect. However, you were designed in the image of God, who is perfect. You are separated from God because of sin – but He sent His only Son, His only Son that quite literally was imself, to die for your sins. The blood He shed for you covers your sins, and if you accept Him you will receive His grace and mercy. This is rather simple – this God loves you, and wants a personal relationship with you, and all you have to do is accept Him. That’s it. Seriously. But there is so much more to this faith. I struggle here to not say religion, as I have been taught my whole life to use that word. But that is not what it is. It is not a “thing,” it is a relationship. It is in this blog that I will attempt to go beyond the simple concepts of this relationship between us – God’s chosen people, those who call ourselves Christians – and the Lord. We glance at Christianity and we see the simple concepts, but as we dive deeper and deeper into the Word that the Lord has provided, the Bible, we see that it is so much more than just the deepest, most pure love we can ever imagine. And as for the word “difficult” in the passage above, that is certainly a relative term. God’s way is not always the easy way – in fact, I have found in my experiences that much of the time it is not. But by taking God’s way, and accepting His help, we grow more than we could have ever imagined, and certainly more than we could have grown on our own. He has revealed to us His perfect character – and therefore His perfect hope (see Romans 5:1-5). He has instructed us in how to live, how to treat others, how to love, how to prepare for marriage, how to deal with our enemies, and so much more. 


I invite you to follow along with me in this blog as we take a look at these things. I hope to be posting on a fairly regular basis. Please feel free to leave any comments and discussion, and if you would like to personally communicate with me about anything you see on here or anything in general, please do not hesitate to contact me at bradleyjohnson91@gmail.com, or @bjohnson91 on twitter!

“Lord, help us to relentlessly follow You and obey You in all that we do. It is through you that we find our life, hope and deliverance. We love you, and want to serve you, because we know that You alone are worthy. Thank you for the countless blessings you have given us, and may we continue to find peace in You and develop a closer, more intimate relationship with You. Amen.”