To Light a Thousand Lamps - The Theosophical Society

76 / TO LIGHT A THOUSAND LAMPS
harvest. Therefore, as opportunity o¤ers, let us work for the
good of all ...
— Galatians 5:25; 6:7‒10 (The New English Bible)
In short, every moment of every day we are setting new
causes in motion and reaping e¤ects of past deeds. It is the
quality of our motive that has shaped and will continue to
shape our character and our future. Because we are one
humanity and not separate, we are a¤ecting the destiny not
only of those with whom we associate, but also of thousands
of others sensitive to our wavelength. If we are altruistically
motivated, we shall be sowing in the realms of the spirit; if
self-serving, our sowing will be in the field of our personal
self. We reap as we sow, for nature reacts impersonally without
reference to pleasing or displeasing the sower. The harvest
will conform to the sowing since every human being is
his own reaper and recorder, impressing what he is on the
memory cells of character and, in fact, on every level of his
being.
How does this jibe with the idea of grace? As used in
the New Testament, grace signifies almost exclusively God’s
means of granting forgiveness for sin through the intermediary
of Christ Jesus. ‘‘He that believeth . . . shall be saved’’
(Mark 16:16). Whatever an individual may have been or
done, by accepting Christ as his Savior he is assured freedom
from guilt and the blessing of God’s grace. Read literally, as
it is by the more orthodox Christian, it is unconscionable:
what kind of justice is this if a reprobate can, simply
through accepting Jesus as the only son of God, have his
record wiped clean and his character purged of iniquity? Is
there no requisite of atonement for wrongdoing? And what