Lesson 343. I am not asked to make a sacrifice To find the mercy and the peace of God.
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Lesson 343.
I am not asked to make a sacrifice
To find the mercy and the peace of God.
The end of suffering can not be loss. The gift of everything can be but gain.
You only give. You never take away. And You created me to be like You, so
sacrifice becomes impossible for me as well as You. I, too, must give. And so
all things are given unto me forever and forever. As I was created I remain.
Your Son can make no sacrifice, for he must be complete, having the function of
completing You. I am complete because I am Your Son. I cannot lose, for I can
only give, and everything is mine eternally.
The mercy and the peace of God are free. Salvation has no cost. It is a gift
that must be freely given and received. And it is this that we would learn
today.
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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 343.
"I am not asked to make a sacrifice
To find the mercy and the peace of God."
*Continuing the theme of the unity of giving and receiving, this lesson focuses
specifically on sacrifice, which is based on the idea that if I am to receive
something, I have to give something away; if I am to receive love, I have to pay
for it.*
(1:1-4) "The end of suffering can not be loss. The gift of everything can be but
gain. You only give. You never take away."
*This is our prayer to God, but the ego has us believe the exact opposite: the
world's God gives life and takes it away. Funeral services almost always affirm
that thinking, and behind it is the idea we stole from God, and now He is
justified in taking back from us -- through our death -- the life we believed we
stole from Him.*
(1:5-11) "And You created me to be like You, so sacrifice becomes impossible for
me as well as You. I, too, must give. And so all things are given unto me
forever and forever. As I was created I remain. Your Son can make no sacrifice,
for he must be complete, having the function of completing You. I am complete
because I am Your Son. I cannot lose, for I can only give, and everything is
mine eternally."
*This corrects the ego thought system that says the way to win God's mercy and
peace is to pay Him for it -- the birth of the strange notion that God demands
sacrifice. In biblical times God demanded animal sacrifice, then the sacrifice
of His Son. Following along, we sacrifice the pleasure of our own bodies. All
this makes perfect sense from the ego's view of truth, which knows nothing of
such insanity:
"Sacrifice is a notion totally unknown to God. It arises solely from fear,
and frightened people can be vicious. Sacrificing in any way is a violation of
my injunction that you should be merciful even as your Father in Heaven is
merciful." (T-3.I.4:1-3)
In other words, "God thinks otherwise" (T-23.I.2:7), and so our thought system
of guilt and punishment, vengeance and sacrifice, is quietly undone through
forgiveness, which restores to our awareness the completion of God's Son. The
ego's dream of sacrifice -- <one or the other> -- ends in our embrace of the
Holy Spirit's principle -- <together or not at all>. Thus we remember our
Identity, the eternal Christ God created like Himself.*
(2) "The mercy and the peace of God are free. Salvation has no cost. It is a
gift that must be freely given and received. And it is this that we would learn
today."
*God's Love is total, and is totally present to <all> Sons, who in their
delusions believe they are separate. Thus they believe their separation from God
must be brought at a price -- the compromise of the Oneness of God and His Son.
Yet does Jesus save us from this insanity by gently teaching that reality cannot
be compromised, for Heaven's love is not diminished by our belief in the hell of
judgment:
"Salvation is no compromise of any kind. To compromise is to accept but part
of what you want; to take a little and give up the rest. Salvation gives up
nothing. It is complete for everyone." (T-23.III.3.1-4).
Recall this comforting statement: "The Word of God has no exceptions" (M-13.7:5)
Love and Blessings,
Lyn Johnson 719-369-1822
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