Episode 329: I’m Talkin. . .Fair

I’m Talkin’, episode 329, for August 4th, 2024.

This is Joel from the I’m Talkin’ microcast, where I share my thoughts on a topic that has piqued my interest this past week.

This week we’re talkin’ FAIR.

So the word FAIR is another one of those words that I thought I would have covered by now, but now seems like a good time to do it, so let’s get into it.

So when I think of the word FAIR, I’m really thinking of equitable, like, is it fair, like treatment of people or treatment of things or how maybe you’re judged, those kinds of things.

That’s what I’m thinking of when we think of the word FAIR.

And it’s interesting because when my kids were little, I told them to take the word out of their vocabulary because rarely will they find that the world is fair, and I just thought it would be better if they didn’t think that way at the beginning and found another way to compare and contrast things that were happening to them.

And then I thought about how the world might use that word, and almost nobody uses it the same way because for each of us, FAIR may mean something different.

And in general, it’s a very individualistic word.

It’s mainly for me or mainly for the individual who wants theirs, who wants to be considered FAIR in someone else’s judgment.

And it’s not so much that they want things to be FAIR, but they want things to go their way.

And therein lies the challenge for those of us who call ourselves Christians.

As Christians, when we think of the word FAIR, and you know, maybe that’s why I told my kids, you know, don’t think about that word all that much, is we really do not want the word to be FAIR.

We don’t want to be treated in that way because what we deserve from a Holy Father, what we get are very different things.

And many would say it’s not FAIR, it’s not equitable.

And what we really want is grace and forgiveness and mercy.

And we don’t want things to be treated FAIRly.

And the reality is that that’s exactly what we get.

We get forgiveness, we get grace, and we get mercy from a perfect Heavenly Father.

And because of that, things aren’t FAIR.

From the world’s perspective, they may say that we are blessed and we know we are.

And so what does that do for us?

When we stop thinking about being treated FAIRly, we start thinking about what Christ has done for us.

And then we get to share that with others.

We get to treat them with grace.

We get to treat them with mercy.

We get to offer them forgiveness.

They may not think it’s FAIR either, but since we have the Holy Spirit, since we know the gift that we have been so freely given, it allows us to offer the same, even when it’s not FAIR.

Until next week, this is Joel from the I’m Talking Micrograph.