How many times have you heard it said or
said it yourself— “Life is unfair.”
There is so much wisdom wrapped in those three words. They speak of genetically heritable diseases, chronic pain, poverty, natural disasters, deformity, the unlucky, etc.
That basic concept is difficult to internalize, but the evidence of its truth is all around.
Psalm 19:1 states, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” It is because the evidence of God’s glory and perfect justice are written on the hearts of humanity that we balk at the pain caused by injustices— like those listed above.
This causes us to take actions meant to remedy injustice, actions like establishing governments, police forces, and justice systems. As we are often reminded, Romans 13:1 records Paul’s approval of these attempts to create fairness by writing, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”
Nonetheless, a zealotry for perfect equality can have equally unjust outcomes.
Human beings are inherently narrowly focused. None are omniscient. In addition to perverting the incentive structures of society, the biggest problem with central planning in authoritarian regimes is that there is simply not enough information and processing power to efficiently allocate goods and resources from on high.
This is the problem with some efforts to combat inequality: they are too narrowly focused on the proximate effect of a remedy and fail to consider the long-term implications of their policies. One example of this dangerously narrow view is the move toward allocating medical resources toward those who come from historically oppressed racial groups.
Who is to say which groups deserve explicit favoring during medical treatment? It is, of course, a central planner. In this case, the role is filled by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) who recommended last September that zip codes with “larger minority or non-English-speaking population” would get more resources to address the COVID-19 pandemic. The CDC’s recommendations do nothing but trade one form of unfairness for another.
The evils of the world will be with us until the end of time. But when Jesus returns in glory, the cruelties and inequities of the world will be fully rectified.
2 Timothy 4:1 reminds us that, “in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage— with great patience and careful instruction.”
This charge is our role here on earth.
One day, rest assured that God will take vengeance for the original sin introduced into the world through Satan’s temptation of Adam and Eve.
Every human tear, ever scream of pain, every broken heart will be given justice on the day when the promises of Revelation 20:10 are fulfilled:
“And
the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where
the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever
and ever.”
Until that day, however, we must be careful not to become agents of evil in our quest to perfect a fallen world.
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