When we were children we thought fairness was treating everyone exactly the same. As we grew up the true definition of fairness dawned on us. Fairness is meeting each person’s needs. Just as each of us is unique so are our needs. Fairness isn’t giving something to someone if they don’t need it while skimping with someone who needs more. Thinking about this made me wonder about grace. Do some people need more grace than others? Does my pastor need less grace than some mass murderer? If so, I could imagine that heaven will be a pain because some people like to brag about their sinful past and how much grace it took to save them. Of course, it could go the other way and some would brag that they were so good they didn’t need much grace.
You know what? This is stupid. The truth is we have all earned death and it took the same thing for my pastor as for the mass murderer. It required the death of a righteous person and the world didn’t have even one. So God sent His son to do it for us. A saint isn’t someone with lots of personal merit. A saint is someone who acknowledges their need and accepts what God has given.
Paul wrote, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 There will be no room for bragging in heaven other than our outright adoration for Jesus. Him we can brag about. There will not be enough wondrous adjectives in our vocabularies to come near describing His love and grandeur. But it will be great fun trying.
Written by Roger Bothwell on December 3, 2013
Spring of Life, PO Box 124, Saint Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org