Lingerdog's World

So I see some talk of karma from time to time, karma's gonna get this person or that person. I don't buy it, and I'll tell you why.

See I'm a pretty nice guy, and yet, that didn't stop my wife of five years from running off with another man, one who is 16 years older than her to boot, within a month of meeting him for the first time. So, if karma is real, we have to assume that I did something to warrant this being done to me. I have searched and searched and have yet to find anything remotely bad enough to warrant this cosmic payback to me.

And what of our son. He rarely gets to see me, misses meals, and is struggling something terrible, and for what, what has he done in his all to short life to warrant the universe doing this to him.

And maybe it's not this life, if you believe in such things, maybe I did something in a previous life, I thought that meant you just became something terrible in this life, like a dung beetle, forced to push balls of crap around your whole life.

But if I'm being punished now, for something I did in another life, isn't that like punishing your oldest child because your youngest stole a cookie?

If karma is about writing wrongs in the universe, and I beat up an old man in another life, then shouldn't I be unjustly incarcerated in this life for a crime I didn't commit?

That's what doesn't make sense to me, if karma is so powerful that it can right wrongs across different lives, how come it doesn't just stop the bad things from happening in the first place? Why not make the murderer fall dead of a heart attack right before he intends to commit his murder?

Why continue this cycle of payback in life after life, rather than just thwarting the bad things to begin with. If karma is so powerful as to change the fates of people, how come it can't do that one thing, and have everything settled at once, peace and tranquility forever?

Karma doesn't, because it isn't there.

That guy would never come to church. That’s what some of us think when we are trying to witness, basing our decision to witness to a person on their choice of clothes, or the music they listen to.
We can easily get trapped into the mindset of only a certain type of person is reachable and so we should focus our efforts on that person. And we ignore the person who has probably heard the gospel the least out of the two and in my opinion is more in need of hearing it.
Now I think we are all as in need of salvation as the next man, but there are those out there who have never been to church, that know only one way of living, and if we are to follow in the tradition of the great commission of reaching all nations with the gospel, then maybe we need to stop taking for granted that all in America, who can freely worship, should be confined to either finding faith on their own, or not.
So you weren’t called to be a missionary in Africa, or Australia, or some other far off land. Well I’m here to tell you that you can be a missionary in America. There are lost in this country that needs to hear the word of God, of the saving grace of Jesus Christ, as much as any person in the far reaches of the earth.
And we walk past them every day. Sometimes we look through them as if they aren’t there.
Why?
God reached down and pulled you up into his arms and gave you comfort when none other could, he gave you salvation, the greatest gift ever given, and all it would take is a few minutes to pass on that gift to someone else, someone who may be trapped in their own world of darkness, looking for a light to lead them out of it.
Someone has to be that light bearer for them. Someone has to help them find that path.
If you were walking around, angry at the world, not for what the world had done to you, but because you felt the world didn’t care about you, how much would it mean to you for someone to stop you and say, “I do care about you, and this is why.” And just tell them what has been done for you, about God’s love and his sacrifice of his son for us.
I’ve been there, I was in a church where I didn’t feel that the love of God was talked about, everyone caught up in the world of me, me, me.
As Christians, we can’t get caught up in this thinking, for we might miss the opportunity to help bring someone closer to the Lord.
So how do you know who to give the Gospel to?
The easy answer is everyone. There is no one out there that doesn’t need to hear the Gospel. Whether they have salvation or not, it never hurts to talk about God’s love. You never know who will hear your conversation and make them want to know more themselves.
And when you are wondering if you should talk to a person about it or not, don’t start listing reasons it would be a waste of time, things like their clothes or music, but rather think of all the reasons to tell them, God’s love for us, the gift of salvation and eternal life, a life where your burdens don’t seem so bad because you have seen how bad things could have been, you have seen where your life might be but for the intervening hand of God.
And maybe, just maybe, you will start that person on a path of salvation, because you will have shown them someone cares, and there is another way.
So go out today, and each day after and be a 24/7 Christian. Be a missionary in America. Let every day, every moment, every person you meet, be an opportunity to tell someone about God, Jesus Christ and salvation.
And if you are afraid, or feel like you don’t know how to talk to people, don’t know how to open up and give them the message for what God has done for you, just pray, ask God for the courage to open your mouth when the weight of the world is telling you to keep it closed. Ask him to give you the strength needed to overcome your fears.