Scripture: Genesis 29
The phrase you reap what you sow, of course has it’s roots in agriculture. If you sow or plant wheat seeds, you will reap or harvest wheat. If you plant weeds you can expect weeds. In our lives, there are consequences to our actions. Honesty and hard work usually result in rewards while lies and laziness bring problems.
In Genesis 29, we find a beautiful love story gone very wrong. Even though we saw Jacob become a fully committed follower of God, in this narrative, God allows Jacob to experience some of the same pain of deceit and treachery that he brought on his brother Esau and his father Isaac. There are consequences for our actions and sometimes we reap what we sow.
Karma?
There is no such thing as Christian Karma. I’ve heard lots of people say “What goes around comes around.” If you do bad things, bad things will happen to you and if you do good things, good things will eventually happen to you.
Karma is a eastern idea from the false Hindu religion. It says if you live a bad life, you will suffer in the next life and if you live a good life, you will be reincarnated to a better life. There is nothing true, biblical or Christian about this. It is wrong.
There are consequences like punishment for our sin and there are possible rewards for our good actions. But ultimately, God has found us all sinners and no one is righteous or good enough for heaven. We can’t do good deeds to gain God’s approval.
Two Take-Aways
- God can use anyone. God can still use people even if they have sinned and disobeyed Him along the way. Shortly after the creation of a perfect world, the first people Adam and Eve sinned and chose to listen to the Serpent instead of God. They were cursed with sin and all of creation was cursed too. The over-arching story of the Bible is one of redemption or being saved. God promised to save mankind from their sin and promised to restore His creation. No one is beyond help. No one is too far gone. God will save all who turn from sin and trust Jesus Christ as Savior.
“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,” Acts 3:19-20
- God’s grace and mercy overflow. Even though we were lost in sin, by His mercy God sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for us so that we would not have to suffer the eternal consequences of our sin. Mercy means not getting the punishment we deserve. God’s grace gives us blessings, like a restored relationship with Him, peace in life’s trials, eternal life even though we have done nothing good enough to deserve them.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.” Ephesians 2:4-5
