Fairness X (SA) - THE SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS

But as for me, here I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. 

 - From Jeremiah 26

The Christmas story, of course, is not all peace and gentleness. The second day of Christmas is the Feast of Stephen. And Stephen was the first Christian martyr. He was stoned to death simply for expressing a viewpoint. He honestly expressed what was on his mind. And for that, he was put to death at the gory hands of an out-of-control mob.

We want fairness. But one person's fairness is another person's unfairness. I don't see how you ever set it completely right, via human intervention. 

Yes, we want a balanced system of criminal justice. We want grades to be assigned fairly. We want the best players to start. We want the most worthy person to get the raise. 

But when we adjust our systems so that it is more of a level playing field, someone, inevitably, will feel that the playing field has been fixed to favor others, unfairly. 

Fairness works, until a dictator, or a mob (both despotic) gains an upper hand and changes the rules to favor a different group of people. 

Jeremiah expressed real fairness. "If I do the right thing, it may stir you up in hate towards me and I may lose my life. Okay then."

Believers cannot afford the luxury of demanding fairness. They can only express it in their own personal lives, and thus influence others to act with integrity. But we all know that the person with integrity ultimately gets handed a growing list of enemies. We all seem to want the option of playing dirty, when it suits us well. We really don't want blind fairness . . . this seems to limit our sense of control over things. 

Evil, and control over others. They seem to go hand in hand. 

Stephen was treated unfairly. But salvation was bestowed upon him fairly. The eternal life that he wins will be no more nor less than anybody else that gains immortality. 

We have now looked at two major criteria that people take with them into the voting booth: They look for candidates that care for the needy, and that want to establish fairness. But we have found that the greatest leverage over both of these virtues are not to be found in politicians, but in our own hearts, and our day-to-day interactions. 

And that is a challenging aspiration, indeed!! We have to be godlike, to really care, and really treat others with fairness! 

We are better off with Stephen's, and Jeremiah's simple devotion to truth and real love . . . and their acquiescence in the outcome.