Bible Reading: Psalm 67:1-5
Tell all the nations that the Lord is king. The world is firmly established and cannot be shaken. He will judge all peoples fairly. Psalm 96:10
THERE’S A NEW arcade game in the lobby of the discount store in your town. It’s called Warrior Rage. You scrape together every quarter you can find and walk into the store.
You pop two quarters into the machine, which is bigger than some apartment buildings. A sinister voice says, “Welcome to Warrior Rage. Are you ready to die?”
“Bring it on!” you say, pushing the red and blue buttons on your right.
A grid forms on the screen, introducing six opponents. The game explains that they will all be righting you at the same time. “Drago” shoots fireballs from his eyes and has five-bladed swords instead of hands. “Nemesis” swings a fifty-pound sledgehammer like a purse, crushing her opponents beneath its solid-steel head. “Malevant” has a powerful thirteen-foot tail that he uses as a weapon and also carries a grenade launcher in his short, dinosaur-like hands. The other three opponents have even more frightening characteristics.
A single bead of sweat appears on your upper lip. You wipe it off. You punch the red button, and a second screen arises. “Choose your weapon,” it instructs you. You stare at the screen. You can’t believe this. The game gives you only two choices of weapons: a pair of small silver fingernail clippers or ten ordinary rubber bands. You can’t even choose both weapons!
“No fair!” you shout, kicking the machine. “This is so wrong!” You decide to play the game anyway, but equipped with only a pair of fingernail clippers you promptly “die.” “I want my money back,” you whine. “This game isn’t even fair!”
That wouldn’t be fair, would it? It would be “so wrong,” right? Right! Because fairness is right, and unfairness is wrong, right? Right! That’s why you would be upset by a game that takes your money and doesn’t even give you a fighting chance. But do you know why fairness is right and unfairness is wrong?
That’s right. Because the God who created us is a just God. He is fair. He is a God who “judge[s] all peoples fairly” (Psalm 96:10). “Everything he does is just and fair,” the Bible says (Deuteronomy 32:4).
So you see, fairness is right because God is fair. Unfairness is wrong because it is not like God. We choose right when we are fair to others, because God is always fair.
REFLECT: Have you ever said, “that’s not fair”? If so, can you think of the most recent time you said that? Did you know why fairness was right and unfairness was wrong? Have you treated anyone unfairly this week? If so, what should you do about it? If not, how can you continue to be fair to others in the future?
PRAY: “God, I know that you judge all people fairly. I know that everything you do is just and fair. Help me be more like you: fair to everybody.”
