Equal Opportunity? Really?
In the first six verses of this chapter Paul reminds us of our station in the Kingdom – prisoners of the Lord. As such we are of “one body, one Spirit, … called to one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father.” All one, but all the same? Equal opportunity? Equal outcome? Hardly.
Verse 7 starts with “But…”, and that can only mean the talk is about to transition. The discussion of oneness we all share as fellow prisoners is about to move into a discussion of our uniqueness as individual recipients of grace. Grace has been given “…to each one of us…”, and not all identically! It has been given “… as Christ has apportioned it.”
Grace is not a “one size fits all” proposition. God appears to be into the “custom fit” business, Some are pastors, some are teachers, some are Spirit-equipped to do one kind of thing, and others are Spirit-equipped to do a different kind of thing. It seems only logical that opportunities and outcomes will vary for all of us. Christ apportions those too.
Not fair?
Perhaps that is why Paul prepares us for this information by exhorting us to be completely humble. Humility is not jealous. Humility doesn’t protest, “it’s not fair”. Humble, like Jesus, gives up its rights. He came all the way down to earth from heaven’s perfection to bare our sin and take us prisoner… then give us gifts. (Is it me? Giving gifts to prisoners seems weird. The Kingdom is pretty weird, comparatively speaking.)
I think this is actually really good news. I would much rather live a custom-fitted life by Jesus, than have an equal opportunity as measured by the world. Who needs fair? We have Him.
Love this, Jon! I’ll definitely be using this in my household, where we sometimes hear the same refrain (“It’s not fair!). Might have to print out the comic for my fridge, too…but that one is more for me. Thanks for the encouragement on this rainy Monday!
” Who needs fair? We have Him.” How I need to remember this daily!
Thanks, Jon.
I was thinking about this teaching in light of a recent “it’s not fair” conversation that I had with my boys. It went a little something like this…
R- MOM!!!! It is just not fair!
M- What is not fair?
R- William got to lick the dog food and now I want to lick the dog food and you won’t let me!! Why can’t I just TRY the dog food? It isn’t fair!
M- Seriously? You are crying because you WANT to eat dog food? OK. Eat the dog food…..
Moral of the story. Maybe God is sometimes just trying to keep us from eating the dog food.
Jen, is there something wrong with dog food?