Part 2:2 WHAT IS SALVATION
Lesson 235 God In His Mercy Wills That I Be Saved
- I need but look upon all things that seem to hurt me, and with perfect certainty assure myself, “God wills that I be saved from this,” and merely watch them disappear. I need but keep in mind my Father’s Will for me is only happiness, to find that only happiness has come to me. And I need but remember that God’s Love surrounds His Son and keeps his sinlessness forever perfect, to be sure that I am saved and safe forever in His Arms. I am the Son He loves. And I am saved because God in His mercy wills it so.
- Father, Your holiness is mine. Your Love created me and made my sinlessness forever part of You. I have no guilt nor sin in me, for there is none in You.[1]
Meditation for Lesson 235
One of the foremost concepts that we take from our Course is that God does not will for us to be unhappy, tortured, persecuted, and humiliated. God takes absolutely no delight in our suffering and there is no reason at all for us to take delight in it either. God wills that we be saved from all the world’s disappointments, meanness, abuse, and scorn. God does not rub our mistakes in our faces. He does not get any satisfaction from an I-told-you-so stance. When the prodigal returns home, the Father does not wag His finger or give him a lecture on the dangers of fast living. A feast is prepared; a new robe is tenderly wrapped over his shoulders; a family signet slipped upon his finger.
When the memories of our past would flood our mind, hurt us all over again, make us feel ashamed or guilty, filling us with sorrow and a sense of hopelessness, Jesus tells us to say, “God wills that we be saved from this.” Jesus tells us to watch the hurts disappear.
There are days when shame, when guilt, when sorrow seem to be doing their best to reestablish themselves in my mind. Today while James and I were preparing food and getting the house ready for a send-off dinner for our beloved middle grandson before he heads off to Air Force bootcamp next week, a flood of memories from past family get-togethers came to mind. I remembered my mother and the delicious feasts that she would prepare for every occasion. An endearing second-grade essay that my daughter Manda wrote about our Thanksgiving dinner came to mind. That descriptive thesis of our tribe’s holiday circus inspired her teacher to enroll her in the gifted program where she excelled in writing her crafty, covert observations about said family for the remaining years of her life. I thought of the fun my sister and I enjoyed putting on shows together over the decades. I thought about how we would call and sing “Stand by Your Man” to each other back in our single days. Along with the loving memories there were also not-so-tender ones posing as old snubs, bad manners, silent treatments, scorn, loss through death and estrangements. They lurked about like slippery eels with gaping mouths in the backwater of my mind. It was as if these beasts were doing their best to sink my sense of anticipation, happiness, and contentment into their yawning jaws.
God wills that I be saved from this! My mind – fixed upon Him and His great and abiding love for me – is transformed into oneness with Christ. There is no room in the flow of love, peace, and joy for stagnate backwater where such thoughts originate and seek to draw the mind, to darken its brightness, to drown it with sorrow, shame, and guilt. We forgive the mistakes that are made outside the flow of God. We forget them. We owe them no affection, no glory, no place in our minds, our thoughts, our conversation. We bring them to God and God wills that we are saved from them. We learn what they taught us, and we watch them wash away along with the dead, brackish water in which they dwell.
God’s holiness is our holiness! God’s Love created us and made us sinless forever because we are like Him. We have no guilt and there is no sin in us, for there is none in God. Thank God for His mercy today. We are not of this world, but while we are here, we can have a happy time of it, rejoicing in His great love, sharing love and affection and thankfulness with those whom we call our own.
[1] A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 235. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992).
Audio credit: The Friar Patch @ http://www.eckiefriar.com
the friar patch 