ACIM Lesson 343 I am not asked to make a sacrifice to find the mercy and the peace of God.
I am not asked to make a sacrifice to find the mercy and the peace of God.
1. The end of suffering can not be loss. ²The gift of everything can be but gain. ³You only give. ⁴You never take away. ⁵And You created me to be like You, so sacrifice becomes impossible for me as well as You. ⁶I, too, must give. ⁷And so all things are given unto me forever and forever. ⁸As I was created I remain. ⁹Your Son can make no sacrifice, for he must be complete, having the function of completing You. ¹⁰I am complete because I am Your Son. ¹¹I cannot lose, for I can only give, and everything is mine eternally.
2. The mercy and the peace of God are free. ²Salvation has no cost. ³It is a gift that must be freely given and received. ⁴And it is this that we would learn today.
Sacrifice Becomes Impossible
The idea that God asks sacrifice of us is so ingrained that Jesus must strongly and frequently reinforce that this is not true. He tells us often as he does here that God does not want our sacrifice. We do not lose by turning to God, we only gain thereby because God does not take, He only gives. He gives us love, joy, and peace eternally. Because we were created like God, this must be true for us as well.
I Cannot Lose
As we practice what the Course teaches, we learn that giving is receiving. All that we give, we receive and so as we learn to give all to all, we learn that we receive all. As Jesus says in this beautiful prayer, ⁷And so all things are given unto me forever and forever. This is what God means for us and as we accept His gift. It is the understanding of what it means to be an extension of God. We are like Him and complete Him.
As I Was Created I Remain
The only thing God asks of us is that we accept what we are as His creation. He asks nothing in return. What I give up is no sacrifice at all. To remember my true Self I only “sacrifice” pain, suffering, and death, none of which exist in reality. We only give up the belief in what is not real. This made me think of something that happened in the past. I thought I had lost a friend due to a misunderstanding.
I Accept Salvation
There didn’t seem to be a way to heal the rift and I could have felt unfairly treated. Instead, I asked for another way to see this and I was led to simply love everyone involved. I had to “sacrifice” righteous indignation but was this really a sacrifice? Righteous indignation certainly didn’t bring me any happiness or peace. I chose to love and to keep loving and soon the whole incident shifted without my interference. I gave love to receive love. I continue to monitor my beliefs and their effects and to forgive all that does not bring me closer to God. I freely accept the gift of salvation.
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