"Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double acccording to her deeds." Revelation 18:6a
This reminded me of the spiritual principle found in Galatians 6:7, "whatever a man sows, this he will also reap."
In everything we do we are sowing seeds in the spiritual realm (this is where it is scary and hopeful). If you've ever planted a seed, you know what comes up from that seed is a whole lot bigger than the original seed.
"That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be . . . God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the deeds a body of its own." 1 Corinthians 15:36-38
If we sow evil things we will reap an evil harvest. If we sow good things we will reap a good harvest. Evil cannot turn into good and good will not turn into evil.
Even the world says, "What goes around, comes around," but I don't think most of us take that seriously. Or maybe it is that we just forget because we are living reactional lives rather than intentional lives.
Maybe that's the key -- choosing to live intentionally rather than reactionally (is that a word. . . well, it is today).
All we do and say and think have eternal consequences (for good or bad).
We don't know how much we will reap from any one action, word or thought. We just know we will reap more than we sowed. This brings to mind a C.S. Lewis quote (which I will end with -- it is a bit lengthy but it was all so good):
"It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor.deeply about that of his neighbor . . . It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.
"All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations.
"It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal." C.S. Lewis