II. SECTION 14. What am I?
Lesson 353. My eyes, my tongue, my hands, my feet today have but one purpose, to be given Christ to use to bless the world with miracles.
- Father, I give all that is mine today to Christ, to use in any way that best will serve the purpose that I share with Him. Nothing is mine alone, for He and I have joined in purpose. Thus has learning come almost to its appointed end. A while I work with Him to serve His purpose. Then I lose myself in my Identity and recognize that Christ is but my Self.[1]
Throughout my life, I wanted to love Jesus and serve Him but concepts like the one we have today scared the living daylights out of me! Give Christ my eyes, my tongue, my hands, my feet? But they are mine! The stories of the martyrs of Christ scared the “be-Jesus” straight out of me – I wanted my head on my shoulders, thank you very much.
And so my whole life, I did my best not to be a total reprobate, an all-out waste of humanity. I did some good. When I would measure myself up against others, I would come out below or above depending upon whom I chose to compare myself with. On the days I wanted to forgive myself for all the ways I failed, I would remember all my seeming triumphs in comparison to someone who was more sinful, reckless, and told more lies and played more tricks to disappoint and hurt others than I did. Conversely, on the days I felt like specializing my shame, I would compare myself unfavorably to all those I imagined had been smarter, more truthful, sincere, and honorable than I could ever find it in me to be!
When I come to Christ, I give Him all that judgment. I let Him sort it out. Christ knows me as I really am because Christ knows me as Himself. All those people I compared myself against? Christ knows them as Himself and teaches me to do the same.
Through my private holy practice, devotion, and prayers, and through our mutual teaching and learning meetings, I learn to seek God as the only intelligent, logical, and curative thing to do if I want my life to matter. Serving His purpose, I do not concern myself with stories of death, sacrifice, and suffering because He is Love, He is mercy, He is healing, Peace and Joy. Separate myself from what I really am, I am lost and floundering, alone and adrift, searching for love in a void. Only in Christ do I find who I really am, and what I am really about.
Today in our devotional practice, find your Self by giving your all to Christ. If you feel a bit of hesitation, if you are not entirely sure that this is what you want to do, if you are afraid, ask God to teach you the difference between the valuable and the valueless. Give Christ all that has no value. Do not call it a sacrifice, but rather recognize it as the nothingness it is. This is the way to redemption. This is the way of salvation. This is the path that requires nothing in exchange for Everything.
We say nothing because we lose only that which has no value, that little sense of “self,” that would hold itself apart from others, judging, unforgiving, comparing, selfish and uncaring, acknowledging not wholeness but clinging to its little shard of ignorance for strength and sustenance. We say nothing in exchange for Everything because in God we take our place in the cosmos, the heavens, the whole of Creation, which can only be seen through the eyes of Christ.
Use your eyes, tongue, hands, and feet for your own purpose today and perhaps you will do a little good and a little bad. You will bless this one and curse that one. You will build here only to tear down there. Give your eyes, tongue, hands, and feet to Christ and you will only bless and not curse, you will only build and not tear down. You will perform miracles. You will find your Self in Him.
[1] A Course in Miracles, Workbook for Students, Lesson 353. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992). p. 481.
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