Jesus vs. Karma

The idea of karma, I’ve noticed, seems to be widely accepted in our culture today. Christians and non-Christians alike will resort to posting quotes about karma on social media when they feel they’ve been wronged by someone they knew, trusted, or even loved. Many will even point to references in the Bible, claiming that even the Bible refers to karma with its, “you reap what you sow,” analogy. I have read a little bit about karma recently, and while I am certainly no expert, I have found a few points very interesting. But don’t misunderstand. This blog post is not actually about karma at all.

 

The karma I refer to here and throughout, is the karma that our society and culture uses, often incorrectly, to acknowledge that someone deserves bad things to happen to them when they have done bad things themselves. Karma teaches that there is a cause and effect to our actions, and that any negative we put out into the universe will have a negative impact on our future. Likewise, any positive we send out, reaps a positive impact. A little while back I wrote about villains, and how at any given moment we can be either the victim in our own story, or the villain of someone else’s. So how ironic is it, that so many of us turn to karma for those who have hurt us? Have you ever hurt anyone? Accidentally? In the heat of the moment? Maybe without even realizing it? My guess is, yes. I believe we all have. Yet we proclaim karma on everyone else, as though we can’t possibly be among the people deserving this.  

Isn’t the very idea of wishing bad karma on someone else, in essence, a negative and vengeful thought? Think about that for a moment. By wishing bad karma onto another person, you are behaving in such a way as to reap​ negativity.

​Jesus is not about karma. 

Yes, the law of karma does teach that our thoughts, words and actions begin a chain of cause and effect, and that we will personally experience the effects of everything we put out there.Yes, likewise, the Bible teaches us that we reap what we sow, and that there are consequences to our actions. Yes, you do reap what you sow in life, and you can absolutely mess your own life up with your own poor choices and negativity. 

But karma and Jesus actually teach us very different things. 

 

First of all, if we just look at the world around us, we can tell that karma, the way our culture uses it, is false. Life doesn’t work that way. Some of the kindest, most thoughtful, most genuine people I have ever met, have had horrible things happen in their lives. Also, there are plenty of people at the top, who have hurt a lot of people in their lives to climb to the top of success.

The way in which we talk about karma is not Biblical. It is vengeful, and it does not​  align with forgiveness or love.  This karma,  fail us time and time again. Karma isn’t going to knock people down when you want it to. Karma isn’t going to fight your fights, and kick your enemies. 
Neither is Jesus. 

Jesus already took what we deserved.  

​WE

When Jesus took that beating, and was brutally crucified, he took the punishment for everyone. Not just you. Not just me. Not just the sins of occasionally cursing or drinking too much. He died for the thieves and the murderers. He died for all the evil in this world, that they may turn to Him and change their ways. He even died for everyone who has ever hurt you, who continues to hurt you, or who is going to hurt you in the future. And instead of wishing negativity on their lives, He wants you to forgive them, as He does.

 

I, for one, am so glad that Jesus doesn’t operate like karma. Jesus took that karma already, and He doesn’t want you to wish it on anyone.