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Karma & Grace
In day-to-day physical life
we easily forget that we were created to be companions and
co-creators with the infinite First One, the Creator, out of whom all
originally found life and consciousness. God created us in love to
know each of us and share life with us. In order to realize this,
He/She gave us free will, the ability to independently choose to be
companions. Without free will we could only become children,
subordinates, automatons, or loving servants, but not true
companions. Companions choose to be with you, and commit through
thick and thin, good times and bad.
Before the gift of free will was given, God set up a simple yet
powerful universal law: whatever we do with our free will we will
experience in return; not as punishment or retribution but as
education and enlightenment that we may know the effect of our
actions and even our thoughts. We describe this law today when we
say, "What goes around comes around." In the scriptures we find: "An
eye for an eye," "As you sow, so shall you reap," "With what measure
you measure, so shall you be measured." This is the law of karma.
Even scientists observe that for every action there is an equal and
opposite reaction. The law is unavoidable and immutable. Jesus
teaches that not one jot will be erased from the law and warns that
those who teach otherwise are deceiving themselves and others. How
then can any of us survive our mistakes with free will? Who has not
misused free will? Are we now caught up in a tangled web of karmic
reactions to our prior misuses of free will? Not necessarily. Jesus
said that he seeks mercy from us, not sacrifice. When he teaches this
lesson he says that curious little saying of his, "He who has ears to
hear, let him hear." It's as though there is some secret within these
words, "I seek mercy not sacrifice." The secret is that the law is so
perfect that we do not have to make up for all our past sins with
free will, but simply begin to understand these mistakes in others
who have and do misuse their free will. The law is absolute: what you
do or think comes back upon you. If you can understand the misuse of
free will in another, then it is understood in you! If you can
forgive the misuse of free will by another, then it is forgiven in
you. And, best of all, if you can forget the misuse of free
will by another, then it is forgotten in you. This is the secret in
Jesus' words, "I seek mercy not sacrifice." Few of us could sacrifice
enough to make up for our misuse of free will, but having mercy upon
others who have misused their free will brings mercy upon us. The law
is absolute. Not one jot will be erased from it. Therefore, jots of
understanding, forgiveness, and forgetting will also come back upon
us as we give them out to others.
But all of physical suffering and challenges are not karmic. Some are
the test as by fire.
The great high priest Melchizedek wrote The Book of Job for
all incarnate souls to better understand the nature of life in this
physical world. It is a test of our love, our companionability, our
commitment to loving companionship with God. He begins the book by
describing how the sons and daughters of God came together to present
themselves before God, and Satan came among them. God turns to Satan
and asks if he has seen the goodness in His servant Job. Satan
challenges Job's apparent goodness, claiming if God touched one thing
of his physical life or physical person, Job would curse God to His
face. The human is not interested in spiritual life with God, only
physical life. He wants two cars in the garage, a chicken in the pot,
a beautiful spouse, and a healthy body. Spiritual things are of no
interest to him. He prays to God just to keep physical things, not to
awaken spiritually or know God personally. After Satan lays down this
challenge, God instructs Satan to test Job to see if this is true.
From that moment on Job's physical life and body fall on hard times.
His friends accuse him of sinning against God, or that members of his
family have sinned. But Job insists that every time he or his family
sinned, he asked for forgiveness, believing that the all-merciful God
forgave it. "But what else can explain these sufferings and
misfortunes?" his friends ask. Job doesn't know, but he does not
curse God. In the end, God and Job talk directly. They get to know
each other and understand one another. Then, a hundredfold of what
Job lost is restored to him.
So it is for all of us who journey through physical incarnations.
Mixing Spirit with matter is challenging.
God's wisdom is evident in this exactingly magical law and the
testing. Mercy to others and enduring the test are two keys to
regaining our birthright as companions and co-creators with God. Our
personal selves feel it as karma, but our soul selves feel it as
grace. I find it is best to subdue desire in my personal self and
accentuate openness to God's possibilities for me and my family, even
when it hurts. Usually, in the long-term, this is best. Though I have
to acknowledge that the short-term may sting mightily. Rebellion is
the danger.
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