Life Isn't Fair

It is easy to see life as unfair.  If we take to comparing, we can easily find ways that life isn't "fair" to us, or to someone we love, or even to strangers.  Some people are healthy, some are not.  Some have lots of money, some are poor.  Some seem to be loaded with visible talents, while others have the quiet talents that may go unnoticed, even by them.  When we are feeling sorry for ourselves it might help to remember that life was the most unfair to Jesus.

Jesus came down, lived perfectly, was treated awfully, and then suffered for all of the sins He never committed.  We came down, and we do not live perfectly.  We sin on a regular basis, creating some of the unfairness for those around us, and yet, we do not have to meet the demands that justice would require. Christ already did that.   He gave us the gift of repentance and resurrection because He loves us so very much.

So, when we get stuck noticing how unfair and uneven things are around us, we can take comfort that Christ understands unfair.  He can be empathetic, comforting and helpful.  He suffered unfairly, and in so doing made it so that if we turn to Him fully we can be assured that the demands of justice have been met, and we will, in the end, have rewards that we do not deserve but that we will be very, very thankful for.

*Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash

Feed My Sheep -- Feed My Lambs

In church today I heard a talk about grace, and the speaker told of how Peter, who knew that Christ was the Son of God, was told by Jesus to feed His lambs, and to feed His sheep.  While listening to the story, I got to wondering about those words and why Christ chose them.  He didn't say, "Go find my sheep, find out everything that is wrong with them, and make sure they know."  He didn't say, "Go tell my sheep they are going the wrong way", or "Go scare my sheep" or "Go lecture my sheep".  He said to feed them.

This is what He asks us to do, and I am sure He doesn't mean to feed them poison, or things that aren't nourishing.  He wants us to feed them love.  He wants the good news of the Gospel shared -- as good news, and not as a list of things the sheep are doing wrong.  I am sure that Jesus meant that we should feed everyone encouragement for all they do right, and love for every difficulty including wrong choices.  He wants us to share joy for every success we see. 

Jesus wants us to know what He did so it can be beneficial to us.  He wants us to know where to look for help, and salvation.  Jesus is the "bread of life".  He wants all of us to know Him.  When we know and accept Christ, and the gift of His atonement, we will truly have been fed, and will want to feed others the joy of Christ and His gospel.

*Picture by Kamille Corry used by permission from churchofjesuschrist.org

Grace

We all are going to have trials that cause us to need consolation, and will make mistakes that leave us unclean.  We are all in need of transformation!  Where will that consolation and cleansing come from?  It will come through Christ's grace, through His power to save us through the atonement He made.  

We are not God, but we can extend grace to those around us in the best way we know how.  We can console people in their sadness, or hard times.  We can love them when they make mistakes.  Jesus does that for all of us when we turn to Him, and we get to practice doing that for each other.  When we receive Christ's grace ourselves it makes us want to extend that same grace to those around us.  To love, to be patient, to forgive, to help, to console.

It is by seeing us receiving grace and then extending grace to each other that people can be led to Christ, who is the one who saves.