ROSEVILLE, MI – Karma is the idea that for every action there is a corresponding effect. In other words, if you do good deeds, then you will get positive consequences either in this life or in your next life. If you do bad deeds, then you will get negative consequences. Karma is like an impersonal Santa Claus.
The truth is, Karma is simply an attempt to explain the laws and ways of God without God. When you consider the laws of Karma, you can see why they make sense, to a degree, and why people are attracted to those laws as a means of explaining some things in life. However, Karma can only go so far. In fact, Karma leaves you unsatisfied. There is nothing personal about it. And besides, the laws do not end up being actual laws but more like guidelines.
Karma is an attempt to answer the question of "why" do good or bad things happen, but Karma cannot answer the question of why is there Karma? Who made it up? Karma cannot explain where the idea of good and bad even came from, nor can Karma establish what is actually good or bad. Is it good Karma to lie? But, what if you lie in order to not hurt someone's feelings? What if you lie in order to protect someone's life? Or, what if you lie for a greater good? How do you know what the greater good actually is? Wouldn't you have to know all things in order to know if your lie was actually better than the truth? What does Karma do with that? On the surface, Karma has some appeal; but if you really try to think it through, it falls apart.
There is a better, more accurate, bigger way. And, therefore, an immensely more fulfilling way of looking at life. The story of Ruth in the Bible is a fascinating story of the providence of God in the lives of two women who are completely at His mercy. Ruth does good things and good things happen to her. Some would say that she has good Karma. But, if that is all they see, then they miss the point. God is sovereignly at work through His providences to carry out a plan that He has established before He created the world. His plan to bring a Redeemer to us and for us was set into motion through what appeared to be some of the most mundane of circumstances. A girl works hard in the field for her mother-in-law day after day. Harvesting and threshing barley by hand does not look like she is changing the world; but, she is. She is not getting good Karma; she is participating in the plan that God established from before time to bring a King to rule over this earth in a glorious kingdom. Her faithfulness in the mundane is actually her participation in the glorious plan of God.
Today, you have some mundane things to do. There are diapers to change, floors to clean, meals to prepare, clothes to wash, jobs to do, phone calls to make, people to check on, plans to make, things to fix, disputes to address, sin to fight, prayers to pray, and promises to keep. In the moment, none of them look all that glorious; but, done in faith, they matter forever. Don't miss the forever in your mundane.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bob Johnson is Pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church Roseville, MI.