2006 New Year's Resolution:
"I will not be afraid of love!"

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

This oft-quoted Bible passage is true. But "believe" means much more than most people think. Maybe a better phrasing would be "joins with" or "experiences oneness with." "...whosoever joins with him should not perish...." "...whosoever experiences oneness with him should not perish...." Any man can say he believes in Jesus, but does he really, really mean it? Any woman can really mean it, but does she really experience it? Isn't it about an experience so far beyond most people's daily grind of fear and guilt it could almost be called being lifted toward heaven? Wouldn't it be better to tell those who ask you about Jesus: "...whosoever liveth at one with him should not perish?"

Actually, for all practical purposes "believing" as most people use it turns out to be plenty enough for starters. Jesus explains in His 21st century revelation A Course in Miracles that a little willingness goes a long way: "The holy instant does not come from your little willingness alone. It is always the result of your small willingness combined with the unlimited power of God's Will. You have been wrong in thinking that it is needful to prepare yourself for Him. It is impossible to make arrogant preparations for holiness, and not believe that it is up to YOU to establish the conditions for peace. GOD HAS ESTABLISHED THEM. They do not wait upon your willingness for what they are. Your willingness is needed only to make it possible to teach you what they are. (Text Chap. 18 Section 4)

The very next verse in the Bible verifies the purpose of Jesus, which you share with him to the degree you experience oneness with Him: "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3:17)

Believing in Jesus, we become open to Him; open to joining with Him, open to becoming one with Him. We talk about our "walk with the Lord," and the more open we become the closer Jesus walks to us, and even closer, until there is a feeling of joining and not being able to tell the difference between walking with the Lord and walking AS the Lord.

When we really, really, really walk with Jesus, so that it is hard to any longer tell who is Who (remember our little willingness has been a foot in the door for God's will to rush in), we discover we cannot condemn the world any more than Jesus could condemn the world. And we surrender to the possibility that, along with Jesus, we are here to save the world.

And of course neither can we be condemned: "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18) But this might need a little explanation.

Point one: "condemned already?" Who is condemning who? This verse just said Jesus does not condemn. And we know God does not condemn, for God is love. The verse is saying if we are not with Jesus, if we are not experiencing God's love and life but rather are closed down and fearful ... we have condemned OURSELVES.

In His Course in Miracles Jesus explains: "When the Bible says 'Judge not that ye be not judged' it merely means that if you judge the reality of others at all, you will be unable to avoid judging your own. (Text Chap. 3 Section 6) "Hear, then, your story in the dream you made.... It is a dream of judgment. So must you judge not, and you will waken. For the dream will seem to last while you are part of it. Judge not, for if you judge you will have need of idols, which serve to hold the judgment off from resting on yourself. Nor can you know the Self you have condemned. (Text Chap. 29 Section 9)

Point two: what does "in his name" really mean? Many such Bible phrases are clarified by Jesus in His Course in Miracles. Here is illumination regarding the use of names:

"Use all the little names and symbols which delineate the world of darkness. Yet accept them not as your reality. The Holy Spirit uses all of them, but He does not forget creation has One Name, One Meaning, and a single Source Which unifies all things within Itself. Use all the names the world bestows on them but for convenience, yet do not forget they share the Name of God along with you.

"God has no name. And yet His Name becomes the final lesson that all things are one, and at this lesson does all learning end. All names are unified; all space is filled with truth’s reflection. Every gap is closed, and separation healed. The Name of God is the inheritance He gave to those who chose the teaching of the world to take the place of Heaven." (Workbook Lesson 184)

"If I could realize but this today, salvation would be reached for all the world. This the decision not to be insane, and to accept myself as God Himself created me. This the determination not to be asleep in dreams of death, while truth remains forever living in the joy of life. And this the choice to recognize the Self Whom God created as the Son He loves, and Who remains my one Reality." (Workbook Lesson 282)

The truth is revealed. There comes a time and place when you recognize as an experience that can no longer be denied that you and Jesus are one, a moment of final acceptance that your reality is the totality of God's love and you have no other purpose than to extend all love to whatever world is left to look upon.

Maybe the year will be 2006 as you direct your willingness to repeating and welcoming this New Year's resolution with all your heart and soul: