“You get what you put In,

And People Get What they deserve!

Still, I ain’t seen mine.

No I ain’t seen mine.

Been given just ain’t been given.

Been walkin down that line.” - Kid Rock - Only God Knows Why

I used to love that song. I thought it was the only decent song Kid Rock ever made. I identified with it. I think many of us do.

Have you ever asked the question

“why do bad things happen to good people?”

or

Why do good things happen to bad people?”

We as people understand the concept of Justice. We understand getting what you deserve. We think bad things should happen to bad people and good things should happen to good people.

That is why “Karma” is such a popular thing.

the idea of Karma is that everyone eventually gets what they deserve, what goes around comes around.

We like that. We like it because we think we can control it. We get to choose our outcome.

From the beginning of history that has been the case

Adam and Eve, broke a rule and got punished.

The Hebrew people demanded Law from God, he gave it through Moses, they broke it, and when they did they did rituals and odd things to avoid punishment.

Agriculture and genuine hard work seem to indicate that the harder you work on something the better your result. Once again re-enforcing that Idea.

But in reality. That’s not the case.

Think about it.

a farmer plants the seed. Fertilizes it. waters it. keeps the bugs away. the seed is in good soil. the farmer does everything neccessary to get a nice harvest. then a storm comes, or an extra hot summer, or a drought, and the crop is ruined.

He deserved to get something out of that seed. He had sown well, shouldn’t he get to reap the harvest?

This farmer has a brother who is a much lazier farmer. But he lives a few miles away. His soil was not well prepared, his seed was not fertilized and had not taken any care in scattering seeds. He put almost no work in. but he got rain, that washed the bugs away, the temperature was perfect and the crop produced much.

He deserved to get nothing out of his seed. He had not sown well, Why did he get to reap the harvest?

Some things in life cannot be controlled.

Some things in life we cannot expect.

But Justice we come to count on

Sometimes we are so wrapped up in Justice that we miss out on Grace, and Mercy, and Love.

You see. I understand that we do not get what we deserve.

The bible tells us that All have fallen short of the glory of God (romans 3:23) and that the punishment for sin is death. So if we get what we deserve, then we get Death. But instead, the one Human in the history of the world who did not deserve death, took it. That we might be saved. you see ever since Jesus took our place on that cross. it is no longer you get what you put in. Because each of us have life, and that is more than we deserve. And for that I am grateful.

I don’t deserve mercy. I don’t deserve forgiveness. I don’t deserve love.

But God has given me all of those things and he offers it freely to all who will accept it.

Grace is a gift. If you have to do something for it it is no longer free. If it is no longer free it is no longer a gift. and if it isnt a gift it isnt grace. its Justice.

If that is all you can comprehend, if that is all you can handle in life. Then God will give it to you.

Judge and you will be Judged, Judge not and you will not be Judged. Jesus Said it. I don’t think we really understand it.

But me, I choose Grace.

In time of need I know where my help comes from.

My help comes from the Lord the maker of Heaven and  Earth.

I know I don’t deserve it. and I know that sometimes something negative might happen that I don’t think I deserve. But I’ll take the neggative 99 times out of 100 if I receive Grace even once. And the Lord has dealt graciously with me.

Even though we all fall short of the glory of God. We have been given Grace. And that Grace is through faith, IN:

JESUS CHRIST

Hallelujah