"What goes around comes around" or "as you sow, so shall you reap" is the basic understanding of how karma, the law of cause and effect, works. The word karma literally means "activity." Karma can be divided up into a few simple categories -- good, bad, individual and collective. Depending on one's actions, one will reap the fruits of those actions. The fruits may be sweet or sour, depending on the nature of the actions performed. Fruits can also be reaped in a collective manner if a group of people together perform a certain activity or activities.
Everything we say and do determines what's going to happen to us in the future. Whether we act honestly, dishonestly, help or hurt others, it all gets recorded and manifests as a karmic reaction either in this life or a future life. All karmic records are carried with the soul into the next life and body.
Karma is a popular concept these days. It finds it origins in eastern mystical religions like Buddhism and Hinduism, and are an essential part of how adherents of those eastern religions live their lives. Dictionary defines karma as “the totality of a person’s actions in any one of the successive stages of that person’s existence, as for determining the fate of the next stage.” So, one has to accept that karma is the cornerstone of the concept of reincarnation.
In other words, how you behave in this incarnation determines your state of life in the next incarnation. People who believe in karma won’t do certain things in this life because they fear they will have to pay for them in the life to come; by the same token, they do certain things in this life thinking they will be rewarded for them in their next incarnation. After all who wants to comeback as a cockroach?
Many Christians think the Bible teaches karma, but it doesn’t. However, the belief in karma is basically a distortion of a biblical principle that we see taught throughout Scripture: What you do comes back to you. In other words, you reap in this life what you sow in this life. And it teaches that what you do comes back to you in terms of your prospects for eternal life. In other words, you reap in eternity what you sow in this life.
Life here and now, until the day you die or Christ returns, is about choices, actions and the ensuing CONSEQUENCES of what we do in this life.
Here’s what the Bible says with regard to our life... Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Galatians 6:7
Does that sound like karma? One could certainly argue that it does, that “reaping what you sow” could have repetitive long-running consequences. However, the Bible teaches that you live and die once, and after that comes “your” judgment (Hebrews 9:27). There are no successive incarnations as one journeys toward Nirvana [no such thing or condition] you have one life to live, and we all must make the most of it.
If you do right you will be paid for doing right; if you do wrong you will be paid for doing wrong. Simply stated as “consequences” are the wages we receive for the crops we sow and harvest. This is a rule to live by—a principle to build our lives on. If we believe this principle, and live accordingly, then our lives will reflect the results.
So, what is the difference between karma and what Scripture teaches? The Bible teaches that what we do in this life comes back to you in this life. There is no future reincarnated life. There is no carry-forward, no future manipulation or cascading consequences piled on us from previous mistakes and bad choices as the faulty concept of karma would suggest.
If you do right, you will be paid for doing right; if you do wrong, you will be paid for doing wrong. If we believe this principle, and live accordingly, then our lives will reflect the results. In Colossians 3, Paul highlights three areas where we can see this principle at work in our lives.
First, What you do, comes back to you in your personal life. Paul the Apostle speaks to this point in the context of ones immediate family. Here’s what he says in Colossians 3:18–21... Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.
Paul begins this passage by saying something that has become quite controversial in recent years: “Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.”
Today, Paul’s words are politically incorrect. The truth is, they were politically incorrect in his day as well, but for a completely different reason. In Paul’s day women were considered possessions. They were, quite frankly, expendable. When a man died, his inheritance went to his son, not his wife. A man could have as many wives as he wished, but a woman could have only one husband. A man could divorce his wife for any reason at all, but a woman could not initiate a divorce from her husband. Women weren’t allowed to hold political office or pursue a career. They were, in pagan Roman society, second-class citizens. A slave could be given his freedom and eventually become a Roman citizen with full rights of citizenship, but a woman could not.
Then, along came Christianity, and the role and status of women in society changed. Christianity offered a radical view of humanity. Christianity’s influence made a positive difference for women in the first century.
That said... Paul tells wives to submit to their husbands, but goes on to admonish men when he says, “Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.” He then tells children to “obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.” And to fathers he says, “Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.”
In other words, our relationships should be defined by two things: 1) We should act with integrity toward others; and 2) We should treat others with respect. Failure to do this results in sour relationships, because what you do comes back to you. A wife who sows strife with her husband reaps a rocky marriage. A husband who is harsh and unloving toward his wife finds himself in a desperately unhappy situation. Children who disobey their parents become unhappy, and fathers who embitter their children eventually discover that their children don’t want to be around them.
The way you treat others impacts the relationships you have with them. If your relationship is defined by love and encouragement, it will prosper. If it is defined by anger and disapproval, it will fall apart at the seams.
The second point Paul made... What you do comes back to you in your work life. Here’s what he says in Colossians 3:22–24... Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
If you take out the word slave and insert the word employee, you will discover all you need to know about being a good employee in today’s complex and competitive economy: Do your job well even when no one is watching.
Paul isn’t saying, “Work hard to impress your boss.” He’s saying, “Work hard, even when your boss isn’t looking.” Verse 24 tells us who is watching our actions and attitudes in the workplace... Christ.
On the other side of the coin, Paul issues a challenge to masters (or employers) in Colossians 4:1 when he says... Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.
Whether you are a “master” or a “slave,” your approach to your job should be characterized by two things: 1) Do your job with integrity regardless of who is watching; and 2) Treat the people who work with you, for you, or above you with the respect they deserve.
Read how Paul summarizes the proper work ethic in verse 23: “Work with all your heart, as [if] working for the Lord.” Even if your boss doesn’t have the sense to give you the reward you deserve, God does and will in due time.
Paul’s final point... What you do comes back to you in your spiritual life. Colossians 3:25 says... Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism. You cannot sin and get away with it. There will be a day of reckoning. Some may say, “Wait a minute. What about forgiveness? What about grace? What about mercy?”
When we ask God for forgiveness, he forgives us—without fail. The Bible is clear on that matter (1 John 1:9; Proverbs 28:13; Psalm 32:2). But don’t mistake escaping the penalty of sin with escaping the results of sin. That’s those PESKY CONSEQUENCES none of us want to own up to. Sin brings about its own punishment, and the results of sin cannot be avoided.
For example, if you cheat on your income tax, God will forgive you when you come to him in repentance. However, you’ll still have to deal with the IRS. If you cheat on your spouse, God will forgive you for breaking his law, but you still have to deal with the effect your infidelity has on your marriage. If you neglect your children and abdicate your responsibility as a parent, God will forgive you, but you still have to deal with the damage your actions have caused.
This is not God’s way of getting even; it’s simply the way the world works. Your actions have consequences. If you do right, you will be paid for doing right. If you do wrong, you will be paid for doing wrong. What you do comes back to you, what goes around, comes around... like the proverbial boomerang!
Depending on how you live and the choices you typically make for your life and relationships, you may consider this principle a promise, or you may consider it a threat.
If your life is devoted to doing good, you can rest assured in God’s promise to reward you with an inheritance. On the other hand, if you are [willfully] doing things that could come back to haunt you, then change your attitude. Stop doing what you’re doing.
Today, you can begin to make things right. What you do will come back to you; so today, if you begin to do right, God can begin to bless you. Don’t let fear hold you back.
Instead of thinking of this principle as a threat, see it for what God intends it to be: a promise of a good life on earth and an even better life to come. God wants to fill your life with good things. Make it possible for him to do that. Make a commitment to do good in every area of your life.
