Hi,
I'm Teresa Hubbard.
Welcome back to our continuing reading of the text to A Course in Miracles.
We begin today in chapter 7,
The Gifts of the Kingdom.
Section 1,
The Last Step.
To summarize my takeaways,
In section 1 of chapter 7,
We are reminded that we have the power to add to God's kingdom,
And that we claim this power when we become vigilant only for God and His kingdom.
By accepting this power as ours,
We learn to remember who we are.
Jesus tells us here that He gave only love to the kingdom because He believed that was what He was.
What we believe we are then determines our gifts to the kingdom.
If God created you by extending Himself as you,
You can only extend yourself as He did.
To create is to love,
And being limitless,
Love extends outward simply because it cannot be contained.
To think like God is to share His certainty of what you are,
And to create like Him is to share His perfect love.
I invite you to keep a few things in mind as you listen to the reading.
The Course uses male pronouns,
Yet this is simply a way of pointing to the spiritual being,
Having no gender.
The Course is written in first person,
And although not introduced directly to the reader,
It becomes clear that the words are from Jesus,
Often quoting from the Bible.
The Course uses traditional Christian terms in a non-traditional manner.
These words are simply pointers to truth,
Nothing more.
A term you will hear within this reading,
Kingdom,
The non-dualistic world of knowledge,
Wherein God and His creations dwell in perfect unity.
And now,
On to the reading.
A Course in Miracles Chapter 7,
The Gifts of the Kingdom Section 1,
The Last Step The creative power of God and His creations is limitless,
But they are not in reciprocal relationship.
You communicate fully with God,
As He does with you.
This is an ongoing process in which you share,
And because you share it,
You are inspired to create like God.
Yet in creation,
You are not in a reciprocal relationship to God,
Since He created you,
But you did not create Him.
I have already told you that only in this respect your creative power differs from His.
Even in this world there is a parallel.
Parents give birth to children,
But children do not give birth to parents.
They do,
However,
Give birth to their children,
And thus give birth as their parents do.
If you created God,
And He created you,
The kingdom could not increase through its own creative thought.
Creation would therefore be limited,
And you would not be co-creator with God.
As God's creative thought proceeds from Him to you,
So must your creative thought proceed from you to your creations.
Only in this way can all creative power extend outward.
God's accomplishments are not yours,
But yours are like His.
He created the sonship,
And you increase it.
You have the power to add to the kingdom,
Though not to add to the creator of the kingdom.
You claim this power when you become vigilant only for God and His kingdom.
By accepting this power as yours,
You have learned to remember what you are.
Your creations belong in you,
As you belong in God.
You are part of God,
As your sons are part of His sons.
To create is to love.
Love extends outward,
Simply because it cannot be contained.
Being limitless,
It does not stop.
It creates forever,
But not in time.
God's creations have always been,
Because He has always been.
Your creations have always been,
Because you can create only as God creates.
Eternity is yours,
Because He created you eternal.
The ego,
On the other hand,
Always demands reciprocal rights,
Because it is competitive,
Rather than loving.
It is always willing to strike a bargain,
But it cannot understand that to be like another means that no bargains are possible.
To gain,
You must give,
Not bargain.
To bargain is to limit giving,
And this is not God's will.
To will with God is to create like Him.
God does not limit His gifts in any way.
You are His gifts,
And so your gifts must be like His.
Your gifts to the kingdom must be like His gifts to you.
I gave only love to the kingdom,
Because I believed that was what I was.
What you believe you are determines your gifts,
And if God created you by extending Himself as you,
You can only extend yourself as He did.
Only joy increases forever,
Since joy and eternity are inseparable.
God extends outward,
Beyond limits,
And beyond time,
And you who are co-creator with Him extend His kingdom forever and beyond limit.
Identity is the indelible stamp of creation.
The eternal are in peace and joy forever.
To think like God is to share His certainty of what you are,
And to create like Him is to share the perfect love He shares with you.
To this the Holy Spirit leads you that your joy may be complete because the kingdom of God is whole.
I have said that the last step in the reawakening of knowledge is taken by God.
This is true,
But it is hard to explain in words,
Because words are symbols,
And nothing that is true need be explained.
However,
The Holy Spirit has the task of translating the useless into the useful,
The meaningless into the meaningful,
And the temporary into the timeless.
He can therefore tell you something about this last step.
The Holy Spirit tells us,
God does not take steps because His accomplishments are not gradual.
He does not teach because His creations are changeless.
He does nothing last because He created first and for always.
It must be understood that the word first,
As applied to Him,
Is not a time concept.
He is first in the sense that He is the first in the Holy Trinity itself.
He is the prime creator because He created His co-creators.
Because He did,
Time applies neither to Him nor to what He created.
The last step that God will take was therefore true in the beginning,
Is true now,
And will be true forever.
What is timeless is always there,
Because its being is eternally changeless.
It does not change by increase,
Because it was forever created to increase.
If you perceive it as not increasing,
You do not know what it is.
You also do not know who created it.
God does not reveal this to you because it was never hidden.
His light was never obscured because it is His will to share it.
How can what is fully shared be withheld and then be revealed?
