B-E-A-utiful

Life is so not fair.

I mean really, how many times have we thought it, said it, ranted and raged about it, cried about it. Isn't it the favorite argument of every little kid, "But that's not fair!" And of course the classic response would almost always be, "Well, life is not fair!" Obviously no one needs to see me write this statement, for really it is more than just my opinion and indeed a statement of cold, hard fact, as we all see day after day after heartbreaking day...

It's not fair that they have all of that.
It's not fair that they get all the attention.
It's not fair that she looks like that.
It's not fair that he can do that.
It's not fair that she has him.
It's not fair that he has her.
It's not fair that I have to be alone like this.
It's not fair that I have to hurt like this.

My God, why is life not fair?! I am yours! Why am I still plagued by the insanity, the chaos that is the unfairness of this life...

How often is that our cry...

But really, just how cold and hard is this reality that we must face time after time, that we constantly wage war against?

In fact, I would argue that this is quite possibly a, if not the, statement from which we should find incredible amounts of flat out, bursting at the seams, bouncing off the walls, running a marathon in five minutes flat, jumping would make you enter orbit, hugging someone until they turn blue, yelling like some kind of crazy person until you turn blue and people are wondering how you got out of your straight jacket, making the olympic gymnastics team look like a group of toddlers who can't even walk straight, totally unhindered in any way shape or form, complete and utter...joy.

Because really, what would we be if life was fair?

I can guarantee you that I wouldn't be sitting here. I don't even know where I'd be. What I'd be. And the idea of having to live a life that is absolutely fair honestly disturbs me.

Hope. Joy. Even love. How drastically warped our conceptions of these, even our ability to have and hold these things, would be if life was fair.

This is the beauty of grace.

Grace is a concept that I find myself constantly wrestling with, that I time and time again must remind myself of, and am still like so many other things attempting to wrap my mind around. Around its depth, its implications, its beauty.

But what I have discovered thus far is that like so many of those other things, it has very real and direct connection to Love. In fact, it is one of the most brilliant and breathtaking outpourings of Love, and one of the most prominent and essential to those who call themselves the people of God. And we can even use the concept of grace to trace and work backwards to the very nature of Love.

Without Love, there would be no grace. And without grace, Love would not be what it is, maybe not really be Love at all.

The message of God, the Love of God, cannot be truly told, truly shown, without the beauty of grace. Those who were witness to the visitor Western Kentucky University had several weeks ago have seen how tragic the absence of grace and love can be. It is grace that allows each and everyone of us to pick ourselves out of the muck and mire of the tragedy of life, that allows us to have hope, to experience joy, to be exactly who we were created to be, the happy-go-lucky, the kooky, the crazy, the spontaneous, the mellow, the laid-back, the timid, the quiet, the bold, the courageous, the whatever and whoever God has masterfully designed us to be. And it is because of grace that we can experience love.

And still, we are so prone to forget this! Not necessarily for ourselves, but so often for others! For me, I'll be honest and admit it's not the "How could God save someone like them??" that get's me, it's the "How could someone like them actually be a Christian like they say??" I see what a person does, how they behave, how sin may still in some way shape or form have a hold on their lives and they seem not to care, and I shake my head, form my judgment, and instead of loving on them, I slowly back away, or even push them away. And the irony is that if we think about it, not only is what that person may need the most someone with the love of God to wrap their arms around them, how often is the reality that the reason a person is like they are that people like us cast the first stone...

I'm so thankful for the fact that God has been gracious enough with me to help me realize this pitfall of mine and has continually worked to alter that mindset. Because God still loves them, just as He still loves me, and Love is still in work in us. In us. So what, Love might be working in different ways, in different areas of our respective lives, but working none the less. We have to remember that we are the Church, at the heart nothing more than a band of physically and/or spiritually pathetic misfits, of rejects, of failures, of fools, of screwups, of dropouts, of the poor, of the the proud, of the beaten, of the battered, of the broken. Of sinners. Of people who need the love of Jesus.

Thank God for grace. Because love us He does.

This Love is far beyond a list of do's and don'ts, of special recipes for righteousness, of how much we can somehow manage not to fail miserably, of what we can offer. Because really none of that matters.

The penalty for sin is death. Period.

And because life is so unfair, we don't have to face what's coming to us, what we rightfully, fairly deserve. We never have to pay that debt.

Because by the grace of God, that debt was utterly eradicated thousands of years ago.

And it is that one thing in this whole, big clump of thoughts, ideas, ideals, and theology that we call Christianity that really makes any difference, no matter your denomination or what have you. Jesus. Jesus paid the price for us. Period. And all we have to do is let Him totally obliterate any and every debt we owe, is acknowledge that He already did.

"And this life sentence that I'm serving
I admit that I'm every bit deserving,
But the beauty of grace is that it makes
Life not fair."
~Relient K

Ok so what's the catch? Because really nothing in this life ever comes without a catch...
We give Him the failure, the misery, the pain, the imperfection and let Him have it all, let Him transform it, by the beauty of grace. He gives us life, and we live for Him. In that order. It's not a "do this then maybe I'll give you this" sort of thing. No. This is one contract that has no fine print. He gives us life, lavishes us with love, and asks us to love Him and love others. Not too shabby a deal if you ask me.

We fail, we fall, we flounder time and time and time again. And yet, we can still stand back up as tall and confident as ever, absolutely spotless, stunningly beautiful in the eyes of our God. Because of the beauty of grace. And though boundless in every way imaginable or not, grace is far from a crutch, far from an excuse for sin. In fact it should inspire us even more to value the awesome Love of our God, to desire to thank and please and praise Him. To Love Him, and to Love others. Because that's still what this is all about.

Life isn't fair. And I praise God for that.
And as for every other aspect of life in which we are threatened to be crushed by how harsh this reality can be, we just have to remember...

Just how much hope we have...

Even though life is not fair. Because life is not fair.

Because we are His. We have been entranced by the beauty of grace and transformed into children of the King. And oh how the Father loves His kids. And oh how His Love and grace will enrapture even and especially the most desperate of hearts.

Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children-
with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.
The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.
Praise the LORD, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
Praise the LORD, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the LORD, O my soul.
~Psalm 103

Dive Deep.