“Life is so unfair!”

Have you ever thought those words in your mind or expressed them with your mouth?

Maybe you have thought about it, and/or expressed it a bit more personally, thinking or saying something like this:  “My life is so unfair!”

Life feels unfair when we do not   what we feel we  .

When we do not get what we feel we deserve, we might even question if God is really fair.

Today, we continue this series called How To Succeed In Life and Love. 

Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”   
Matthew 19:27

“Will we be blessed?”

“Will we get what we deserve?”

“We left everything to follow you.”

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.                    
Matthew 19:29-30

If you are going to succeed in life and love, know this:

Your life is   better knowing and following Jesus.

Jesus tells this parable:

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a   of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for   vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into   vineyard.                       
Matthew 20:1-2

And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went.                                                                     
Matthew 20:3-5a

Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.                                                
Matthew 20:5b

And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’           
Matthew 20:6-7

And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’           
Matthew 20:8

And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.                                      
Matthew 20:9-10

And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’                                            
Matthew 20:11-12

If you are the workers hired first, how would you feel? For some of us, this might raise the question: Is God really equitable?

The workers hired first fell into what we call The Comparison Trap.

But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.                                                         
Matthew 20:-13-14

Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity? ’So the last will be first, and the first last.”                                    
Matthew 20:15-16

The temptation to compare is as near as your next chat with a friend, trip to the store, or check-in on social media. And whether you come out on top or come up lacking, there is simply no win in comparison. It is a trap.

If you want to succeed in life and love, avoid falling into The Comparison Trap.

It is important to notice that in this parable Jesus teaches, God is the     in the story ... not the workers!

When we make ourselves the central figure in the story, we will begin comparing ourselves with others in this life, and it is then that we will start asking the questions, “What about me?” “Don’t I deserve more?”

The Comparison Trap leads to an    

We can become envious of other people’s property, people’s situations, other people’s health, wealth, spiritual giftedness, positions, family, or even their lack of strife and suffering.

Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
Ecclesiastes 4:4 NLT

Comparison steals your   and  . It can turn your glad into sad, or your glad into mad. Jealousy will always bring joylessness.

God can do what He   with that which He  .

What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.            
Romans 9:14-16

God is more than fair; He is    .

The truth is that God is more generous to each of us than we could ever deserve. If we all got what we deserved, we would receive a sentence to Hell.

Beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.                                                 
Hebrews 6:9-10

“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”  
Romans 11:34-35

Who is the central figure in your story?

If you want to succeed in life and love, avoid the comparison trap. And here’s how:

1. Be grateful for God’s generosity in your life. – God owes us nothing, yet offers us more than we deserve. He owes us nothing, but we owe Him everything. He is so good.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
Psalm 103:2-5

2. Celebrate God’s generosity to others. – Do not envy other’s blessings and begrudge God’s generosity.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.       
Psalm 103:11-12

As it is written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”
2 Cor 9:9

In God’s economy, the last will be first and the first will be last.