ACIM Chapter 11. IV. The Inheritance of God’s Son P 7-8

ACIM Chapter 11. IV. The Inheritance of God’s Son P 7-8

IV. The Inheritance of God’s Son P 7

7 At God’s altar Christ waits for the restoration of Himself in you. God knows His Son as wholly blameless as Himself, and He is approached through the appreciation of His Son. Christ waits for your acceptance of Him as yourself, and of His Wholeness as yours. For Christ is the Son of God, Who lives in His Creator and shines with His glory. Christ is the extension of the Love and the Loveliness of God, as perfect as His Creator and at peace with Him.

What do I say to this? Christ, of which I am a part, is waiting for me at God’s altar. He is waiting for me because he is incomplete without me. Do I hesitate because the illusion is so fascinating that I can’t tear myself away from it? Am I so enamored with pain, suffering, and death that I cannot bring myself to let it go? Or am I just plain afraid to face God?

God knows His Son as wholly blameless as Himself, Jesus tells us.

I am blameless. I have done nothing wrong. Exploring illusions of separation was not a sin, and stories of wrongdoing are not the truth. I am blameless and so I have nothing to fear from my God. If God finds me blameless, perhaps I can learn to see myself as innocent as well.

I approach God through my appreciation of His Son, not through the judgment of Him. If I judge myself for my stories, I cannot appreciate myself. No one appreciates that which it finds guilty and unworthy. I am part of the Son, so judging myself is judging the Son and finding Him undeserving. And if I judge any other part of the Son, any other person, I will judge myself because I will believe in judgment.

Why would I hold onto a judgment of myself or someone else?

I could do so only because I think doing so has some value. Here is an example of how this works in the mind. I paid someone to do some work for me, and I realized he did a poor job of it. I thought about approaching him about this and asking that he correct his work. But I also noticed that the more I thought about it and what I would say to him, the more judgment entered my thoughts and the words I planned to use.

When I asked the Holy Spirit about this, I understood that I hate confrontation and felt resentful toward this person because he was forcing me into this position. I judged him and found him guilty. Then, I felt guilty for judging him. Do you see what an endless and futile circle judgment creates?

I felt tense and unhappy while I was doing this.  My discomfort was not about what got done or was left undone in the story. The ego has a home in my mind for now, but so does the Truth. I know – even if I hide it from myself – I know that I cannot enter the presence of God if I attack His Son. There is no judgment or guilt in God and I cannot bring any with me into Him. If I could, I would indeed be destroying what God is.

I let go of the idea that judgment or guilt has any place in my holy mind.

Now, I see myself and everyone else differently. I see them as they are, pure and innocent as they were created. I then appreciate them. How could I not? How could I not appreciate what is so lovely and so glorious, that which is an extension of our Creator and as perfect? I have had moments of clarity, and that has been enough to make me want the real deal, the return of Self, never-ending love, and joy. And now I can talk to this dear brother of mine about corrections to his work with no need to confront or blame.

IV. The Inheritance of God’s Son P 8

8 Blessed is the Son of God whose radiance is of his Father, and whose glory he wills to share as his Father shares it with him. There is no condemnation in the Son, for there is no condemnation in the Father. Sharing the perfect Love of the Father the Son must share what belongs to Him, for otherwise he will not know the Father or the Son. Peace be unto you who rest in God, and in whom the whole Sonship rests.

Who am I, God? This is the question. It is a question that is asked and answered, and to find the answer, I must release all condemnation toward the Son, that is, toward myself and toward my brothers. There is no condemnation in the Son, so I cannot know myself while my awareness is focused on what is not me. There is no condemnation in my Father, so I can rest assured that finding Him in my mind is safe.

This section tells us that our inheritance is a Self that is part of God.

And so it is like God in every way. Knowing my brilliance, loveliness, beauty, power, and perfect and uninterrupted peace is my inheritance. All of this is in me because I am in God, where nothing exists that is not God. It also tells us why it is that we don’t feel like Sons of God, why we don’t see our loveliness when we look on each other, why we don’t feel our power, but rather we feel weakness and vulnerability. It is because we have forgotten that we are incomplete without each other. We are so confused that we believe condemnation protects us and provides a very needed defense against all who would hurt us.

In truth, condemnation is what keeps us in hell. It is what keeps us from knowing our Self and knowing our God. Condemnation has become so much a part of our mind that it passes for normal in our thoughts. I saw how this works this morning when I woke up. It was much earlier than I meant to, and since I had a long day and then a meeting tonight, I felt like I should go back to sleep.

I lay there waiting for sleep to overtake me, and nothing happened.

In that place of nearly awake but not quite, it seems that I am most likely to listen to my ego. I had thoughts about what happens when I don’t get enough sleep and began to worry. This, of course, woke me all the way up, and so there was no more going back to sleep.

These thoughts that I was awake and shouldn’t be, that I was going to suffer because I didn’t get a certain amount of sleep, and all the thoughts that followed along that line were attack thoughts. They condemn the Son of God to frailty and prove she is helpless against what she cannot control. Could this be true of the Son of God? Surely, I must be dreaming of frailty.

Since I couldn’t sleep, I woke completely and asked the Holy Spirit how to see this. Immediately, I remembered that I was no longer in charge of this body, this story of Myron. I am surrendered. I told the ego to take it up with the boss. ~ Smile. So, I got out of bed, looking forward to discovering why I needed to be up early this morning. I left the concerns behind me. I will not condemn myself to something less than what God created.

There are so many little ways I condemn all day long.

Yesterday, I was vigilant for those opportunities to choose differently. I noticed that I would think about someone I know and dismiss them as unimportant because I had judged them long ago. In this way, I was passively allowing the judgment to remain in place by not questioning it. I had not even realized I was doing it until I began asking the Holy Spirit to undo this kind of thinking.

Now that I no longer condemn myself for the ego thoughts I find in my mind, I can enjoy these healing opportunities. When I used to judge myself when I found condemnation, I avoided looking, so I saw only the most obvious thoughts. Without judgment, I look forward to a day of undoing with the Holy Spirit.

To find a study group led by a Pathways of Light minister, CLICK HERE.