Karma is a ......

   One of my favorite shows recently is My Name is Earl.  For all intents and purposes, watching this show might cause one to lose a few brain cells, but non the less it makes me laugh.  The whole premise of the show is that the main character Earl, realizes that his life stinks and because of karma.  The bad karma comes from all the bad things he has done.  In order for the bad karma to go away and for good karma to come, he makes a list of all the wrongs he has done and he sets out to rectify the wrongs that he has done.  In one of the episodes, he tries to right a wrong with his ex wife two kids.  His intention was to take them to amusement park to right wrong, but the amusement park was closed.  Earl was devastated and was wondering how he could make it up to the kids.  One of the kids made the profound statement that when you love someone you forgive them.  This kid was giving the impression that there is another side of karma.  If karma does exist, it is all about getting what we deserve.  Grace is the polar opposite and its all about getting what we don't deserve. 

 This is how I understand grace, which is giving unmerited favor.  We do not or can not earn favor, but it only can be given by the one who gives it.  We do have a choice in accepting it, but the recipient can in no way give grace from another person.  Here are a few things that I think that grace isn't. 
  
  The first one is that grace does not sweep things underneath the rug.  Grace meets any and every problem head on and it seeks to deal with in in a proper manner.  It is taking care of the problem and not the symptoms.  Because if we only take care of the symptoms, the problem keeps coming back, and often in different forms, but it still comes back.  It is not a superficial relationship that only dances around the edges and never covers anything important.  Grace is not claiming that everything is all right when everything is not.  The true mark of a maturing person, especially a maturing Christian is that they are growing in such a way where they deal with one issue and put it to bed, and when the next issue comes along deal with that one also.  Maturing in grace does not mean we will master all of our problems, but when they come up we deal with them and we are continually frying the bigger fish. 

  The second thing that grace is not, is that it is not always the warm and fuzzies.  I wish it was, but true grace is looking at us straight in the eye and telling us to knock it off.  There are times where grace needs to take us out to the woodshed and do some correcting.  This is not the fun aspect of grace, but it is well needed if we want to mature . 

  The third thing about grace is that it is not about works righteousness like karma is.  Restitution is apart of the maturing process, but if we are basing our hope on what we can do to make things right, that's not grace.  Grace is completely based on our intrinsic value as a person, not what we can do.  If grace was about what we could do or what people could do for us, the people who would only receive grace and forgiveness would be the people that could do something for us.  Grace knows no equal and should be bestowed by everyone to everyone whether they accept it or not.  Giving grace is not about giving it to only the ones who will accept it, but it even needs to be given to the ones who wont accept it. 

  There are many things that grace is, but here are two things that grace is that is central to its being.  The first one is that the aim of grace seeks to bring people into right relationship.  Grace does not seek to condemn, but it seeks to restore.  Grace is about restoring people into right relationship with not only God, but others as well.  This does mean we have to have proper boundaries with our relationships, but it is seeking to restore and to be in right relationship with every person we come in contact with.  This means that we are seeking and granting forgiveness with and from others.  Yes grace is giving out what something that the other person doesn't deserve, because we all have given and received something that was not deserved.  Grace is seeking to be in healthy relationships with all we come in contact with.

  The second part is restitution.  Restitution is the action part of grace. Restitution is not so much restoring what was lost, but it is making things right.  Restitution and restoration go hand in hand. It is making things whole again, or as whole as they can be this side of heaven.  No one likes restitution/restoration because it is hard work.  It is easy to say that you are forgiven, but to live it out on a daily basis is another thing.  Anytime where the rubber meets the road is tough, because we actually live it out.  We may say we forgive, and often it is not a one time thing, but it is a daily thing.  Seeking and giving grace is a daily workout that can only be done by the work of the Trinitarian God working in us and through us.  If karma is all about giving us what we deserve, grace is all about giving us what we need.  I am all about giving us and ourselves what we need and not so much what we deserve