Recently, there was a Word Press prompt I missed that I wanted to respond to. The prompt was, “Do you believe in karma?” I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this one. As a religious belief, the answer it no. But in a more casual fashion, what do I believe?
I’ve heard a lot of people say “what goes around, comes around.” And I’ve seen evidence of that in my own life. People who were unkind to others got their comeuppance at some point, that sort of thing. But I’ve also seen a lot of bad behavior go unpunished. Politically, I see a ton of that all around me. Hardly a day goes by that something doesn’t happen that makes me sick to my stomach.
I believe God is in control, no matter how chaotic life seems to us on earth. I believe he will punish evildoers. It may not happen during their time on this earth, but eventually, we all have to go before God.
In the past, I have struggled with the Bible verse that says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28, NIV) I believe I love God, but things have happened to me where I fail to see the good in them, even years later when you’d think I’d have some perspective. Some things have been a direct result of bad that I’ve done and some things have not been my fault. Maybe I have to wait until the next life to understand what good has come of these events.
Which brings me back to karma. I looked it up, and one of the meanings is cause and effect, in other words, “Positive actions bring good outcomes and happiness, while negative actions lead to suffering or future challenges.” Well, that’s a nice belief, but we know it isn’t always true. Still, I believe we should focus on positive actions. Which brings me back to the whole maybe we need to wait until the next life belief.
My dad once said his second wife was the truest Christian he’d ever met. She was positive and had a wholehearted faith in God. And yet she died at 67 of stomach cancer. She was diagnosed in the end of November and died in early March of the next year. Cancer doesn’t look at whether you’re good or bad. It just hits.
Of course, cancer isn’t the only disease that hits indiscriminately. We’ve all heard it said it doesn’t matter what happens to you in life, it’s how you deal with it that counts. I believe that covers it all. For me, addressing the bad in my life, and the good for that matter, with faith and a growing understanding of the mercy of God, is what really matters.
Karma’s a nice belief, but it’s not everything.
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