Monday, April 20, 2015
Lesson 110: “I am as God created me.”
Jesus teaches us here that we are perfect just as we are. The ego is used to telling us we have sinned and fallen from grace. The Course wants our self esteem and self image issues to heal once and for all. We often feel so badly about ourselves we can’t function particularly well because we believe we can have no redemption. We think we are a lost cause. This is what lots of religions tell us and the world is filled with monstrous fibs of our falling. We can have no certainty or confidence because we think we are not good enough for such a gift of mind states.
Lots of religions take the perspective that if we follow enough rules and make our lives just so, we can get on the good side of God. Often religions think God will forgive us. The world wants to have a story of redemption so we can feel better. Religious made up some “benevolent” God Who is kind enough to forgive us. But this is for sure confusing. If we believe that we are bad enough to need God’s forgiveness there will always exist the memory of our flaws. When we do something “bad” and then ask for forgiveness there is always a hint of remaining attack toward the self for making a wrong.
This is why this information just doesn’t make sense when we consider God and how God treats us. This perspective doesn’t work in the long run because in it we have to believe in a vengeful God, in a God who keeps track of our wrongs. The only way to do away with this over the long haul is to realize it never occurred in the first place. We have to see that we did nothing that needs forgiving.
This is why this lesson is so important to take in- that we are now and currently exactly as God created us. When God created us we were made with God energy and so are perfect. We need to let go of any lingering illusions that we lost our innocence with the sin of the world. We have to see that it never happened in the first place because God only creates us as perfect beings. Usually after we are born, the ego keeps long lists about why we are not worthy of being so lovable. We very commonly forget to believe in our own perfectly healthy. blessed and positive state that we were born in and remain to the end of our days.