Lesson 323. I gladly make the "sacrifice" of fear.
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Lesson 323. I gladly make the "sacrifice" of fear.
Here is the only "sacrifice" You ask of Your beloved Son; You ask him to give up
all suffering, all sense of loss and sadness, all anxiety and doubt, and freely
let Your Love come streaming in to his awareness, healing him of pain, and
giving him Your Own eternal joy. Such is the "sacrifice" You ask of me, and one
I gladly make; the only "cost" of restoration of Your memory to me, for the
salvation of the world.
And as we pay the debt we owe to truth, -- a debt that merely is the letting go
of self-deceptions and of images we worshipped falsely -- truth returns to us in
wholeness and in joy. We are deceived no longer. Love has now returned to our
awareness. And we are at peace again, for fear has gone and only love remains.
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Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey
Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the
following site: ~ M. Street.
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Lesson 323. "I gladly make the "sacrifice" of fear."
*The term <sacrifice> is in quotation marks because in truth we give up nothing.
We are not giving up something we deem valuable -- a behavior, ritual, or an
addiction, for example, that we think makes us feel better -- for Jesus is
asking us to let go of the fear that is the core of all dreams. We let go of it
simply by stepping back with him and looking at the thought system of separation
that gave rise to this fear and sustains it. Realizing at last that all this
makes no sense, we gladly "sacrifice" it for the truth.*
(1:1) "Here is the only "sacrifice" You ask of Your beloved Son; You ask him to
give up all suffering, all sense of loss and sadness, all anxiety and doubt, and
freely let Your Love come streaming in to his awareness, healing him of pain,
and giving him Your Own eternal joy."
*We are asked to give up only our misery and unhappiness. The problem is that we
do not believe that is all Jesus wants from us, for we do not accept that
holding onto our special identity, judgments, and being right is the source of
our pain and suffering. We continue to maintain we are right and Jesus is wrong
-- the world does indeed hold something we want, and we will find it:
"The first illusion, which must be displaced before another thought system
can take hold, is that it is a sacrifice to give up the things of this world.
What could this be but an illusion, since this world itself is nothing more than
that? ... It takes great learning both to realize and to accept the fact that
the world has nothing to give. What can the sacrifice of nothing mean?"
(M-13.1:6-2:2).*
(1:2) "Such is the "sacrifice" You ask of me, and one I gladly make; the only
"cost" of restoration of Your memory to me, for the salvation of the world."
*The world's salvation is nothing more than the extension of salvation in my
mind -- or giving up fear for love, illusion for truth.*
(2) "And as we pay the debt we owe to truth, -- a debt that merely is the
letting go of self-deceptions and of images we worshipped falsely -- truth
returns to us in wholeness and in joy. We are deceived no longer. Love has now
returned to our awareness. And we are at peace again, for fear has gone and only
love remains."
*Christianity has taught that our sin against God demands payment to Him, a debt
paid through sacrifice, suffering, and death. Jesus is once again reminding us
that such thinking is upside down and backwards. The only "debt" to be repaid is
to ourselves, by letting go of the illusion, which, again, is nothing. Recall:
"The statement "Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord" is a misperception by
which one assigns his own "evil" past to God. The "evil" past has nothing to do
with God. He did not create it and He does not maintain it. God does not believe
in retribution. His Mind does not create that way." (T-3.I.3:1-5)
Thus do we sacrifice the god of vengeance and hate for the God of Love.
Wholeness has returned to replace separation, and truth rises in our awareness
as we happily realize that for all this we gave up nothing!" (T-16.VI.11:4)*
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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