The grace of God was illustrated for us often in the ministry of Jesus Christ. He demonstrated a forgiving spirit that revealed to all humanity the nature of our relationship to God. It is a love that offers constant opportunity to be totally forgiven and set free from the crippling energy of our past mistakes. This love is God’s grace for all of us and operates as the great eraser essential to the law of karma.

     The law of karma is that our every thought, word, and action brings forth a similar effect in our outer lives. In modern metaphysics it is called the law of mind action. It is a universal principle that first appeared as a fundamental part of the Hindu philosophy. It was then emphasized by Buddha and again by Jesus. It was this law that prompted Jesus to give us the analogies of planting seed and reaping the harvest of those seeds. It was behind his words, “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Mt. 7:16 KJV).

     Before the time of Jesus, however, the unfoldment of humanity had become crippled by the misuse of the law of karma. In the eastern world, the law had been distorted to affirm such thoughts as this: Once a karmic action had been rendered, it must be experienced in kind by the person who performed it. Combined with a belief in reincarnation, it came to mean that whatever one was experiencing in life was the result of either a good or a bad karma of the past. It was viewed as inescapable and gave rise to the caste system of India, levels of which were thought to be earned by past incarnations. It promoted a culture predominantly given to accepting fate and unmoved toward advancement. Buddha brought a degree of enlightenment with his emphasis on choosing advancement by a disciplined program of “good karma” or, even better, “enlightened karma.” It was not a program easily adopted by the masses. Approximately 500 years later, Jesus was born into a world filled with a sense of hopelessness and despair. Within the Jewish culture of Jesus’ birth, there was some hope of escape from past mistakes through the religious system of offering sacrifices for the atonement for past mistakes. It was not the path to enlightenment that Buddha offered; it was a way of gaining temporary forgiveness from their God.

     Only as we appreciate the darkness and despair at the time of Jesus’ birth and ministry can we fully appreciate the gift he brought to the world. His ministry confirmed the law of karma. He knew the incredible power that each human being has to impact his or her own life by the thoughts, words, and actions that each one chooses to express. It is not surprising, however, that the church built around his name and ministry did not amplify this part of Jesus’ teaching. Most of the dynamics of the Christian church have been around Jesus’ affirmation and demonstration of God’s law of grace. It was so because that is what the world needed most. Jesus awakened the world to a new image—the image of a loving, caring, forgiving father as our God. God was not a being of unbending laws of judgment. God was our beloved Father who saw us as children learning by the process of making mistakes and enjoying successes.

     The importance of Jesus’ emphasis on the loving parent cannot be emphasized enough. The famous parable of the prodigal son is but one example. Jesus said, “Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein” (Mk. 10:15 KJV). This word has many analogies, but certainly one is that children thrive in the belief that their mistakes are not only forgiven by their parents, but that their parents are willing to help correct their mistakes. This is the law of grace. God, our loving parent, not only is totally forgiving but is constantly working to correct and heal our mistakes in whatever way is required. The law of karma, or any physical law, can be overridden by the grace of God. We have only to believe this, in the spirit of a child, to step into the law of grace.

     Why would God want to override any laws for someone expressing at their worst? Why would God want to alleviate the suffering of an egotist who used the law of karma, the law of cause and effect, to harm others and eventually himself? You can answer this if you can understand why Jesus could forgive and love the woman taken in adultery. You can answer this if you can understand how a good parent, perhaps like you, forgave and helped a child who in a temper tantrum tore her room apart. God’s grace is found in action in the lives of good parents over and over again. God’s grace is inherent in the soul of every human being!

     Today we live at a time when Jesus’ full ministry is being brought to light. Jesus reinforced the basic emphasis of the Hindu and Buddhist philosophies on the power of our thoughts, words, and actions to shape our lives, but also the essential ingredient to living with and developing that power, the knowledge of the grace of God. We must awaken to the reality of God’s grace before we can walk the karmic path of life with ease and joy. Every one of us will make mistakes along the way. Every one of us will consciously and, more often, unconsciously use our karmic power in error. Every one of us needs to know that it’s okay; we live in God’s grace!

    Can we overuse the gift of God’s grace? The answer is no. God doesn’t just love—God is Love and cannot stop holding us in love and forgiveness. Will we abuse this gift when we know this? From God’s perspective, that is impossible. There will always come a time when we will be so aware of God’s grace that we will surrender to it and release the karma that has created our ongoing problems. It is all a process of learning and growing; and thanks to God’s gift of grace, we can know the best is yet to be!

    This article is from the November/December 2007 issue of Unity Magazine. Subscribe now!