Karma vs Grace

Humanity is in love with the idea of Karma.  Do bad things, pay the price.  Do good things and good things will come to you.  Except there isn’t much of that that I see in the real world outside of Hollywood movies.  I think it’s our hunger for justice that gets corrupted by our flesh, where it all breaks down and falls apart.

Karma says:  Good intent and good deeds contribute to good karma and future happiness, while bad intent and bad deeds contribute to bad karma and future suffering.

Yet it stops at the water’s edge when someone’s bad karma ends up killing you, whatever your good karma.  In my flesh, I’ve even used new testament scripture to sooth my anger over an abusive parent by quoting: “better a mill stone be put around your neck if you should cause even one of my children to fall.”

But that abusive parent is a child of God, too.  He wants to redeem her life.  I should rejoice if He allows me even a small part in loving her as she learns to break her cycle of sin through Christ.

When I look at my own sin, I don’t want to be bound by the dictates of Karma.  What if I had to pay the cost for all I have damaged or even destroyed?

What of the loving, encouraging, quiet spoken Hindu man that shared with me his story?  His father who died when he was 3, his mother who died when he was 6.  The woman he fell in love with that died of cancer while he was far away with relatives.  The wife he married and the 3 miscarriages that their marriage didn’t survive; and on and on and on.  What did he do to warrant this?

Whether Buddhist or Hindu flavored, our refugees were not the first to bring these beliefs. Sharing with them why I don’t believe in Karma has created deep relationships.  Sharing that the closer I draw to Christ, the more I am in awe of the debt He paid, so that salvation and grace are, not only possible, but crucial.

I recently read an old book review from 2005 on “Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas.”  Take a moment to stretch your mind and share a chuckle.

www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/augustweb-only/bono-0805.html

Trials = Joy

Watching the freestyle skiing, a new event in this years Olympics I was introducing to one of our teens, we talked a little about what it takes to win gold.

She kept questioning me about the event and I confessed I didn’t know much of anything since it was the first time it’d been included in the games.

She was confused since the announcer kept referring to the long careers in the sport that many of the participants had before the Olympics.

As he filled the audience in about the history and the perseverance of the women, a scripture popped into my head and fell out of my mouth.

She gave me a shocked look and  asked me what trials had to do with it.  Just then the next competitor’s story was shared about all the injuries she was recovering from in order to compete: broken arm in two places, broken wrist, busted hip, etc.

We talked about how it’s the failures, the pain, and the cost that we continue to rise above that develop the strength and the wisdom to become the winner of our race.

“You mean the joy of winning is greater because of all she survived?”

I thought for a moment, “More than that, in considering the trials & pain itself, as well as, the joy, (all part of what it takes to get better,) then she had the strength to not walk away from something she loved. She could shine her light for the world to see and inspire others.