Life is reciprocal but if Karma is true then we are all screwed and without hope.
The reality is for all of us that we sow and reap.
Whatsoever a man sows he shall also reap.
Galatians 6:7
But what happens if a person breaks and repents? What happens when they come face to face with their choices and are broken? This is impossible for those who believe in Karma to ease their pain. They rest their hope on what goes around comes around.
They are so distraught over what has happened to them and the injustices they have experienced that they want someone to experience a measure of what they have been dealt. Karma. What goes around comes around.
It seems fair; it seems equitable and gives a sense of justice because, after all, they deserve it. They dealt pain so it seems right for them to suffer with pain.
What about us?
What about the demonstration of a scandalous grace that takes the vilest sinners, meaning you and I, and nails every wrong decision and sin we have committed and offers us grace instead of Karma.
Grace is ‘not giving us what we deserve’ and mercy is removing the sting of those decisions that have hurt us and others.
This is what the human heart cries out for: forgiveness, redemption, that there is a God who can undo the mess of our decisions and brokenness that has hurt others.
Mercy indeed does triumph over judgment. When we see ourselves desiring Karma because of what has happened to us, it actually reveals what is going on within our own heart. Vengeance maybe. Questioning God about justice. Exposing our own self-righteousness, measuring our own spirituality against another’s.
We tend to judge their sin with a microscope while looking at ours through a telescope. I know, it stings doesn’t it? Because we are all broken, the sinner and the saint. We are all a work in progress.
The Pharisees were experts at doing this, whitewashing their sin while capitalizing on the sins of others. We are all recovering Pharisees you know. It’s a hard pill to swallow but gulp it on down because this is the place of humility. Realizing that the sweet message of grace gives us hope. It gives that hope to people who only know karma.
A Lesson From Joseph
God is all seeing and all knowing. Joseph went through many injustices and it looked like every situation was against him. Even his family. No, especially his family.
But God never blinked.
He never missed a moment of his pain or the path He was on. God was working behind the scenes and was more interested in Joseph’s heart being right in character rather than him being preoccupied with his brothers renting emotional space in his head or heart.
Today, if you’re troubled by what or how people have done you wrong, look to God. Remember his forgiveness and grace toward you.
Imagine if you got what you deserved because of Karma.
I promise you would cry out for his grace and mercy to replace the seeds you have sown that hurt you and others. No-one can un-sow seeds. We can trust in God to remove the sting from those past seeds we’ve sown and cover those sins with his blood.
Through a repentant heart we can sow good seeds out of a heart that loves God with all their heart and loves thy neighbor as thyself.
Undoing Karma
Desire the best for others because this is what God has done for you. Extend grace from your heart not karma.
Could you offer someone a drink of mercy? Most people are haunted by decisions that have hurt others. There’s a handful of people that are evil and so callous that they are clueless.
However, even if the opportunity arises that severe pain ends up back in their lap, extend the cup of mercy that you hold in your heart. When you do they will see and experience Jesus.
Have you experienced God’s goodness in spite of yourself?
I’d love to hear about it.