1. Healing is always certain. It is impossible to let illusions be brought to truth and keep the illusion. Truth demonstrates illusions have no value. The teacher of God has seen the correction of his errors in the mind of the patient, recognizing it for what it is. Having accepted the Atonement for himself, he has also accepted it for the patient. Yet what if the patient uses sickness as a way of life, believing healing is the way to death? When this is so, a sudden healing might precipitate intense depression, and a sense of loss so deep that the patient might even try to destroy himself. Having nothing to live for, he may ask for death. Healing must wait, for his protection.
2. Healing will always stand aside when it would be seen as threat. The instant it is welcome it is there. Where healing has been given it will be received. And what is time before the gifts of God? We have referred many times in the text to the storehouse of treasures laid up equally for the giver and the receiver of God’s gifts. Not one is lost, for they can but increase. No teacher of God should feel disappointed if he has offered healing and it does not appear to have been received. It is not up to him to judge when his gift should be accepted. Let him be certain it has been received, and trust that it will be accepted when it is recognized as a blessing and not a curse.
3. It is not the function of God’s teachers to evaluate the outcome of their gifts. It is merely their function to give them. Once they have done that they have also given the outcome, for that is part of the gift. No one can give if he is concerned with the result of giving. That is a limitation of the giving itself, and neither the giver nor the receiver would have the gift. Trust is an essential part of giving; in fact, it is the part that makes sharing possible, the part that guarantees the giver will not lose, but only gain. Who gives a gift and then remains with it, to be sure it is used as the giver deems appropriate? Such is not giving but imprisoning.
4. It is the relinquishing of all concern about the gift that makes it truly given. And it is trust that makes true giving possible. Healing is the change of mind that the Holy Spirit in the patient’s mind is seeking for him. And it is the Holy Spirit in the mind of the giver Who gives the gift to him. How can it be lost? How can it be ineffectual? How can it be wasted? God’s treasure house can never be empty. And if one gift is missing, it would not be full. Yet is its fullness guaranteed by God. What concern, then can a teacher of God have about what becomes of his gifts? Given by God to God, who in this holy exchange can receive less than everything?[1]
While healing is certain, it is not time-based; healing does not happen to impress others on what powerful teachers of God we are; healing does not ascribe to our expectations, to give those who heal more credit or more stars in our crown than those who do not heal. We must realize that there is nothing for our human ego to hang upon in our role as teacher of God. We are not here to put on a show or to draw people to us for mere healing of the body. We are not teachers to make a name for ourselves – we are here to join with Christ quietly and with utmost respect.
In that role, the Christ within offers others the necessary change of mind that brings healing – and healing will always come when the receiver is ready. It is not my concern when and where this happens in time – if I make it my concern, I am not offering the gifts of God, I am offering my ego – there is a part of the lower mind that wants to latch on to the glory for God, I want to get some credit here, I want to get bragging rights, I want to make sure that you know it was me that saved you, that healed you, that delivered you from a belief system that made you sick and gave you one that made you well.
As teachers of God we relinquish all concern about the gifts of God that operate in our lives. We cannot share these gifts properly if we insert our egos and our own judgments into our function. As teachers of God, it is Holy Spirit that is in charge of help and healing through the encounters, circumstances, and events in our lives. We are not to worry and fret over if we did it right, if we said the right words, if we used the right tone, or if we really made a difference or not. We can relax and have fun with the people and situations in our lives. Like us they are gifts from God; like us they are teachers and because we are teachers of God, everything they teach us will be used for God whether that is their intention or not. When we use everything we teach and learn for God, we offer healing without even knowing it, and this is a good thing. We are not to become overly aware of how we use the gifts God gives us or be overly nosy about the responses of others to our teaching and learning situations. There are few things more off-putting than trying to get undue attention and credit for the things of God. Jesus wants to spare us this embarrassment and free us from this limitation we would put upon our learning, teaching, and healing.
Read over this passage and see if you come to the same conclusion that I do. As teachers of God, we simply live for God, we propose a change of mind that gives us a healthy, well-adjusted belief system of God’s love and tenderness toward us. No longer accepting guilt and shame, thoughts of sin and punishment, sacrifice and separation, we know ourselves as Christ knows us, as part of the Sonship – worthy of all that God is and gives.
[1] A Course in Miracles. Manual for Teachers. 6. Is healing certain? Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992).
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