September 4th 2014 Lesson 170
There is no cruelty in God and none in me.
- Intention: To remember that there is no cruelty in God so there is no need for fear. God created us, knows us, and loves us as He Himself created us. Our own fear is the enemy here.
- Practice: Spend
thirty minutes twice today as we awake and just before going to sleep
to lay aside all our fears based on our limited understanding of things and remember that there is no cruelty in God so there is nothing to fear. In addition let us
remember
to claim God's eternal love for us at the start of every hour of the day.
- Application: -- Let us
remember what the text has stressed about the obstacles to peace.
The final one, the hardest to believe is nothing, ... is the fear of God Himself. And fear engenders the need for defenses and attack. When you think that you attack in self-defense, you mean that
to be cruel is protection; you are safe because of cruelty. You
mean that you believe to hurt another brings you freedom. And
you mean that to attack is to exchange the state in which you
are for something better, safer, more secure from dangerous invasion
and from fear.
Today we learn a lesson which can save you more delay and needless misery than you can possibly imagine. It is this: You make what you defend against, and by your own defense against it is it real and inescapable. It seems to be the enemy without that you attack. Yet your defense sets up an enemy within; an alien thought at war with you, depriving you of peace, splitting your mind into two camps which seem wholly irreconcilable. The way to salvation is to step away from attack, to lay down your arms and defenses and only then would you perceive fear false.
Now do your eyes belong to Christ, and He looks through them. Now your voice belongs to God and echoes His. And now your heart remains at peace forever. You have chosen Him in place of idols, and your attributes, given by your Creator, are restored to you at last. The Call for God is heard and answered. Now has fear made way for love, as God Himself replaces cruelty.
Father, we are like You. No cruelty abides in us, for there is none in You. Your peace is ours. And we bless the world with what we have received from You alone. We choose again, and make our choice for all our brothers, knowing they are one with us. We bring them Your salvation as we have received it now. And we give thanks for them who render us complete. In them we see Your glory, and in them we find our peace. Holy are we because Your Holiness has set us free. And we give thanks. Amen.
Insights/comments:
- The awareness of fear causes us to embrace defenses and to attack what we perceive to be a threat to our safety. But fear implies something deeper, a sense of separation, otherness, and therefore danger. Thus has fear entered our minds for only separation can give rise to it, and only the remembrance of oneness can remove it. The recognition of the unity of all things removes the sense of separation, the basis for fear, and thus are we freed, for now defenses and attack are no longer necessary. This is Christ's vision, and our salvation..
I and my Creator are One. 
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