"God's Favor Isn't Fair!, Really?"

God's Favor Isn’t/Ain’t Fair is a phrase sometimes uttered when someone receives an unexpected gift or has a positive response to their prayer.  Viewing God in such a manner is troubling because it suggests that God truly has a list of favorites.  If God's favor ain't fair, Christians might do well to reevaluate the God to whom they confess their allegiance.

Perhaps, God isn’t the problem; maybe the Christian’s definition or understanding of God is the problem. Or could I be incorrect for suggesting there is a problem?

When Christians bask in the notion of God choosing them over/at the expense of others, does their response demonstrate a well-nourished understanding of God? Or might their concept of God be more exemplary of the divisive and bereft nature of people (the creation)?  

Asserting that one is favored is informed by the need to be first, special, better than, etc. Leading to an unhealthy drive to head the food chain even to the extent of classifying God as one that mocks and labels "the other" as not favored. History records the flaws and destructive consequence of such thought: i.e. slavery, Holocaust, Jim Crow. Philosopher Samuel von Pufendorf warns us: “More inhumanity has been done by man himself than any other causes”.

Too often our inhumanity is cloaked in God or religious accouterment.

When we suggest that God’s favor isn’t fair, we in essence claim that God is unfair. In doing so, we deprive people of hope! We are telling the "not yet favored" that God's gifts aren't for them. Is that the message, we want the world to hear about a God we say, loves ALL? 

Think about it in these terms, the gifts of God are denied to others because "Favor ain't fair"! Really? So:

• the 870 million people in the world suffering from chronic malnourishment,          are not favored?  
• the more than 16 million children in the U.S. that live in households with an income below the poverty line, are not favored?
• the near 3 million people receiving jobless benefits, are not favored?
• the 634,000 people that experience homelessness on any given night in the U.S., are not favored?
• the 32 million adults in the U.S. and the 774 million people in the world who     can’t read, are not favored?

Be careful what you believe because actions follow beliefs!

Announcing, "favor isn't fair" is akin to the first grader bragging she/he was the only one to receive a special gift card from their teacher. The teacher’s gift wasn't motivated by the teacher loving/liking the student more than their classmates. The Christian; like the first grader, proclaiming God's favor of themselves over others, places the character of God in question:  Does God love you more than me? Is God selective with whom He blesses? Does God give certain people/ groups preferential treatment?   How does God choose who receives His gifts? Do I matter to God? Does/Did God really "so loved the world"? We might consider the following:

Does God have character issues or have Christians

misappropriated the meaning of God’s gifts?

Perhaps, we are too quick in defining God through our own prisms and too slow in allowing ourselves to be shaped and defined by God! Maybe, we lack a correct/accurate understanding of the nature of God. If we discover that God is indeed the lover of ALL our souls, we would know that God’s favor extends to everyone. Favor isn’t measured in material possession, social status or economic status but is measured in God’s love for His creation. God’s favor for ALL of us is so great that Romans 8 reminds us that NOTHING we have or lack ”will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

Some of the aforementioned people have a greater appreciation for what God’s favor is because despite their circumstances; they continue to see the favor of God’s love at work in their lives. Suffering and disappointment may abound but they recognize favor is not defined by one’s power over, accumulation of, or the privilege one receives. When God is rightly perceived; we see and experience God’s true favor; in terms of love, forgiveness and grace.

Proclaiming Favor isn't Fair is divisive and destructive; immediately barriers are cast between the "Favored" and "unFavored". By announcing favor isn't fair, we are saying God has declared winners and losers; and worst of all, the Favored (winners) want us to believe that God proudly crowns them so! 

Have You Ever Been Lost?

Have you ever asked for directions? 

Here is a story of a celebrated truck driver who had become known simply as the master, a name well earned because he had mastered the roads throughout the universe, there was not a road unfamiliar to the master whether it was a major highway, a country road, a suburban street, or a city thoroughfare the master could provide directions with precision to the desired destination. 

The Master was better than any AAA triptik and more concise than a GPS giving notification of new recalculations.  But strangely, just like mapping out a trip with the assistance of triptik or following every turn of your GPS, people were still getting lost with directions from the Master.  

There were emergency (911) calls across the world from major cities to suburban areas and to the most remote rural lands. Accidents were occurring everywhere. People were confused and distressed wondering how such a thing could happen? The collisions on the highways caused consternation in the suburbs; conflict in the rural lands and created commotion everywhere. Wherever the Master's eyes gazed disastrous results were seen. 

At each accident scene, questions were asked, and it became clear the driver had been lost. Other questions followed, From whom did you get your directions? Every driver that was questioned replied, from the Master! Knowing that the truck driver world-renowned as the Master provided safe and detailed directions, the investigator’s follow up question was: Were you following the Master's directions at the time of the accident? Everyone questioned replied No! 

“Before every person lies a road that seems to be right,

but the end of that road is death and destruction”.

Proverbs 14:12 (The Voice Bible)

The above is a contemporary story, here is an encouragement from the 500’s to follow the Master’s direction written by St. Benedict known as “The Rule of St. Benedict” for monastic living:

“Listen my son (daughter), and turn the ear of thine heart to the precepts of thy Master.

Receive readily, and faithfully carry out the advice of a loving Father, so that by the

 work of obedience you may return to Him, whom you have left by the sloth of disobedience.

For thee, therefore, whosoever thou be, my words are intended, who, giving up thy own will,

dost take the all-powerful and excellent arms of obedience to fight under the Lord Christ, the true King”.

Benedict of Nursia, Rule of St. Benedict, 1.

Have you ever asked the Master for directions

and ignored them only to experience disastrous results?

Believing "Jesus is Lord" - Changes Everything!

Below is an excerpt from Brennan Manning's

The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus. 

“Scripture is not about the transmission of inert ideas. It is a call to love, and love that does not lead to action is not love. Every day of our lives the Word (scripture) is an imperative to rediscover the truth that, in the words of Hans Kung, “the whole secret and center of human existence remains the person of Jesus Christ.”

In my own mind, the greatest need in the church today is to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This is the burden of the entire doctrine of Saint John’s Gospel, “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). But this knowledge is more than a casual acknowledgement that Jesus lived and died and rose again. It is this kind of knowledge that leaves us changed. It is an encounter with someone who alters the very course of our lives.  “It is not uncommon”, as Ralph Martin notes, “for many Christians to have a seriously incomplete idea of what the Scriptures say about Jesus Christ. Many have a vague idea of Jesus as a ‘good guy’ who helped the poor and told people to love one another. They operate with a fuzzy, almost symbolic notion of Jesus as the symbol for a liberal’s idea of goodness.”

Those who say, “Jesus would never hurt anyone”, often mean to rule out the possibility that he would ever ask someone to repent or go through the pain of recognizing his brokenness. To believe that all Jesus calls us to is to be nice to each other is to substitute the Christ of Christian humanism for the Christ of Saint Paul.

In Hebrews, we read, “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1). In the same letter, we are told, “Worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire’” (Hebrews 12:28-29). This is no Christ the humanitarian, Christ the master of interpersonal relationships, or Christ the buddy. 

It is Christ the Lord and Savior who calls us to repent,

change our lives, and strike out in a new direction.

Writes F.X. Durrwell: “This knowledge of Jesus Christ as saving Lord is the only knowledge that has any worth for us.””

_______________________________________

"Jesus is Lord" is indeed a Game Changer, I have witnessed the lives of friends, family members, church attenders/members and strangers altered who embraced the Lordship of Jesus. Their lives changed in such way; that they shared, they lived life with new direction and meaning. 

Not only have I witnessed this altering in the lives of others but my own life is continually being altered. I am being both challenged and changed by embracing "Jesus is Lord". It's easy to say I am a Christian but to believe and live "Jesus is Lord" Alters/Changes Everything! 

"Jesus is Lord" is not a life of ease or comfort 

but a life of submission to being changed. 

--

Inspired By Love,

Marcus J. Singleton
Lead Pastor
Living Faith Community

Hoover, AL

Our Vision: "A diverse community of faith; inspired by the love of Jesus, 

 committed to becoming and making disciples".

Freedom In Christ=LOVE

Galatians 5:1-6, 13-14 (Message Bible)

“1 Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you. 2 I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ's hard-won gift of freedom is squandered.  3 I repeat my warning: The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law. 4 I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. 5 Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. 6 For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.  .  .

13 It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. 14 For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom.”

In Galatians, Paul invites us to consider the truest sense of freedom. While we in the United States rightly value the liberties afforded to us in our Imperfect Union; we who believe in Jesus Christ are in pursuit of a freedom not contained by geography; nor bound to restrictive patriotism. 

As we strive to love like Christ, we will with determination demonstrate an uncompromising love for God and others. We will reject freedom afforded to some while denied to others.  Doing so we ensure these promises of freedom will have the same meaning for everyone:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,

that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

True freedom is not merely measured by what we are allowed to do; rather, true freedom is expressed when we choose to love without restrictions. Loving everyone - regardless of class, religion, political affiliation, educational attainment, sexual orientation, native land, race, marital status, physical appearance, etc, in both word and deed!

Let’s redefine and expand our understanding of freedom in Jesus' terms – we are free when:

 “But through love become slaves to one another.”

Galatians 5:13b (NRSV)

 “Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows.”

Galatians 5:13b (Message Bible)

Each day let us pray that we all will embrace the freedom for all – “For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.”

 -- 

Inspired By Love,

Marcus J. Singleton
Lead Pastor
Living Faith Community

Hoover, AL

Our Vision: "A diverse community of faith; inspired by the love of Jesus, committed to becoming and making disciples".

" I Would Never_____!"

Am I accurate suggesting everyone would like to consider themselves having high moral standards and values? I have said and heard said, “I would never______!” (insert any value you "think" you would never violate) but is this true?  The "I would never______!" statement can only remain true when we resist, avoid and/or are prepared to overcome it.

For instance, Joseph in the Bible resists Potiphar’s invitation to commit adultery. But, could Joseph maintain absolutely, “I would never______?” I imagine that Moses would have said I would never murder; yet he commits murder. I wonder did Judas Iscariot ever say I would never betray Jesus the Christ; yet he betrays Jesus. Adam, the first born, probably thought I would never eat from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil; yet Genesis communicates he did. 

While it’s possible as in the case of Joseph, we can resist; avoid and prepare to overcome sin – we would do well to remember the phrase:

“There, but for the grace of God go I!” 

This statement is derived from John Bradford, English Reformer and martyr. Who while imprisoned witnessed other prisoners being led to their death and said “There, but for the grace of God goes John Bradford!” Bradford’s observation acknowledges that given different circumstances he too could have faced death from the warden.

When we say “I would never______!”, we are relying and trusting in our limited human ability and power. While belief in our own gifts and abilities breeds confidence, our “I would never______!” thinking sets us up for failure. If we are to resist; avoid and prepare to overcome our penchant to sin; development of a God-dependence is necessary.  John Bradford reminds us that it’s very possible to succumb to the circumstances before us – I would add circumstances both in and beyond our control.

Jesus warns Peter after he confidently says “I would never – “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you", responding “I tell you the truth, Peter – this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me”   Matthew 26:33-34. Jesus points to Peter’s (and our) lack of power over sin (temptations).

Our confidence to live a life of fidelity to Jesus and with high moral standards and values is only possible when we submit to God-dependent living. Our ability to resist; avoid and/or prepare to overcome sin begins when we realize and accept, 

“There, but for the grace of God go I!”

Each day, when we focus on being self-reliant we must remember never is closer than we think. Embracing God-dependence leads us to taking God honoring actions; knowing; and trusting without the grace of God, we would______(sin).

Take a moment now and begin practicing God-dependence saying, 

“Without the grace of God, I would_____!”

 -- 

Inspired By Love,

Marcus J. Singleton
Lead Pastor
Living Faith Community

Hoover, AL

Our Vision: "A diverse community of faith; inspired by the love of Jesus, committed to becoming and making disciples".