Shirley is in her early 60′s. She tragically lost her father at the age of 17. He was shot in a dispute between himself and another farmer that presumably had something to do with several cows. A grand jury did not bring charges against her dad’s alleged assailant. Shirley went on to obtain advanced degrees and become an influential voice for justice for the oppressed. About ten months ago Shirley took on a new job with the federal government. A federal official misunderstood something she said about her past and promptly fired her.

The airwaves have been hot with this story because the supervisor is Tom Vilsack, head of the Department of Agriculture. And commentators from many perspectives have sought to leverage the events to fuel their own brand of political and social commentary.

Underneath all the rhetoric is the reality that we don’t respond to unfairness well—whether the issue involves a dispute with a third grade student and your daughter, a wrong price on an item at the supermarket, or an unreasonable termination in a government bureaucracy. Our first response is often characterized by bitterness, anger, and recrimination. We threaten, we name call, we play the victim card, we speak of legal action, we slander, we vilify, and we bemoan how something evil can happen to someone as perfect as ourselves.

God hates injustice of all kinds. His prophets foretold the doom of his own nation because of such things. Amos decreed, “For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals.” (See Amos 2:6.) He calls his followers to fight for justice and to live righteously themselves. It’s the second challenge—living righteously—that we often struggle with when unfairness touches our lives.

When God is absent or at the margin of our thinking, we can easily respond with the kind of bitterness and acrimony that you can see in a near miss at a parking lot or in a dispute about tee time at a golf course. We convince ourselves that we’re fighting for justice. But often the real issue is that we’ve come to expect perfect treatment from others, and someone will pay dearly any time that expectation is not met. The consumer mentality that puts me in the center of the universe breeds zero tolerance for anything I would deem unfair treatment of me.

To fight against evil while cultivating a spirit of grace when issues are personal is a massive challenge. It’s impossible on our own strength. It’s the last thing we tend to do. It’s easier to vocalize our resentment and our outrage. It’s more natural to complain and threaten those who treat us unfairly. But grace is one of the qualities that Jesus wants to build into the hearts of his disciples. It’s not a call to moral passivity. It’s a call to character in the fight.

Grace embraces the truth of 1 Thessalonians 5:15, where God instructs us, “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.” This unnatural response does not fit in a secular culture. It never will because it requires a trust and confidence in God that are alien to a materialistic society. But it reflects the same kind of grace that God shows us daily when our choices, values, priorities, and attitudes fall short of his perfection. Christ followers have the opportunity to choose the uncommon response as we deal with unfairness. In doing so, we point to one who endured all kinds of evil so he could offer eternal life to those who would surrender to his rule.