Miracle Principles 25-27
January 18, 2021
Miracles depend on timing. This seems simple enough but it is Jesus’ timing that they depend upon. Jesus wants us to allow him to control our trivial pursuits so that we are free to offer miracles according to his plan. When we use time in this way it is not wasted on what we may think is important, but is a “useful learning aid.” (25.2:2)
Jesus tells us that even though allowing him to “take charge of all minutiae” may seem like an invasion of our deeply personal space it will free our will. If what we think we will is what he calls trivia and he is going to free up our time for miracles, then our will must be miracles.
One thing to note here is that he is not going to barge in and take over but he is offering a more efficient service. “I cannot save you more time than you are willing to let me, but if you are willing to try the Higher Shopping Service…I have very good use for the time we could save.” (25.6) The more open we are to this offering and the more we can allow him to guide our lives the more time we have to give the miracles he wants of us.
When we get bogged down with any kind of distraction it is only because we are resistant to his guidance and are using old habits to deal with our fear of this course. We need to recognize this as our “unwillingness to not get bogged down” (25.8:3) Then we can replace it with willingness which will open our minds to learning this new curriculum.
A miracle rearranges the order of perception and places the levels in their true perspective. This heals at all levels, because all sickness comes from confusing the levels. If spirit is the altar of truth, not the body, then miracles rearrange the order of our perception of the truth. From this comes healing of physical and spiritual sickness because sickness is caused by confusing the levels. We confuse what is true with what is not true.
Jesus tells us that we have difficulty with level confusion because we are afraid of the intense attraction we have to the truth. He suggests we pray “Lord heal me”, or “Lord atone for me.” (26.3:1,2) This is the only legitimate prayer because asking for atonement means asking for our misperception of physical and spiritual levels is to be atoned for or undone.
Therefore forgiveness must be an undoing of this confusion. Jesus says we have everything else. He uses a logical sequence to show this.
“If, when you have been forgiven, you have everything else,
and you have been forgiven,
then you have everything else.” (26.4:2)
He calls this divine logic. We have to assume that the line “you have been forgiven,” is true for the whole sequence to be true. We get hung up with not really believing we have been forgiven so this statement seems untrue. He reminds us here that his atonement, which later in the Text we will see is his resurrection, is evidence that we have been forgiven. He asks us to examine his credentials by reading the Bible.
To atone means to undo and to reconcile what is one. Therefore to atone is to undo level confusion and this restores everything to us. When we wonder if we have truly been forgiven, we must also believe we have sinned. If sin is really an absence of love, we must therefore believe we have lost love. We “had everything when [we] were created.” (26.6:2) Jesus’ resurrection or atonement restored what we lost. Now we share his purpose to correct the lack of love in ourselves and our brothers.
Jesus wants us to join with him in the “Great Crusade.” To be a part of this Crusade we must listen to his voice teaching us something new, learn what he is teaching so as to let it inhibit our inferior learning patterns, and do what is needed to correct the error of our old learning. This requires us to be active in the world
We do not need to worry how we will ever manage to do this because Jesus will make sure the opportunities for us to be his active workers occur. We need to be ready and willing to work miracles. “Doing them will bring conviction in [our] ability.” (26.7:4)
A miracle is a universal blessing from God through me to all my brothers… We heal others by accepting the healing of ourselves. We accept that we are forgiven and we then naturally offer forgiveness to others. Jesus is with us in this and will not forsake us. As our misperception is undone, we undo the misperceptions of our brothers. God’s strength and wisdom is our help. Our level confusion will be corrected and the state of physical and spiritual separation will be corrected or undone and we will understand that
we “are the work of God, and His work is wholly loveable and wholly loving.”
Questions for reflection:
1. In my life what is trivia; what does not matter? Is my understanding of this different from Jesus’?
2. If miracles are what Jesus is asking me to devote my time to, what gets in the way of that?
3. Where in my life is there evidence that I do not believe I am forgiven?
4. Where can I listen more to Jesus’ voice in order to undo my errors?
Suggested Practice:
I am the work of God, and His work is wholly lovable and wholly loving. This is how I must think of myself in my heart, because this is what I am.