Salvation and forgiveness are the same. They both imply that something
has gone wrong; something you need to be saved from or forgiven for;
something amiss that needs corrective change, something apart or
different from the Will of God. Thus do both terms imply something
impossible but yet which has occurred, resulting in a state of conflict
between what is and what could never be.
Truth and illusions both are equal now, for both have happened. The
impossible becomes the thing you need forgiveness for; salvation from.
Salvation is the borderland between the truth and illusion. It reflects
the truth because it is the means by which you can escape illusions. Yet
it is not truth because it undoes what was never done.
How could there be a meeting place at all where earth and Heaven can be
reconciled within a mind where both of them exist? The mind that sees
illusions thinks them real. They have existence in that they are
thoughts. And yet they are not real because the mind that thinks these
thoughts is separate from God.
What joins the separated mind and thoughts with Mind and Thought which
are forever One? What plan could hold the truth inviolate, yet recognize
the need illusions bring, and offer means by which they are undone
without attack, and with no touch of pain? What but a Thought of God
could be this plan by which the never done is overlooked, and sins
forgotten which were never real?
The Holy Spirit holds this plan of God exactly as it was received of Him
within the Mind of God, and in your own. It is apart from time in that
its Source is timeless. Yet it operates in time because of your belief
that time is real. Unshaken does the Holy Spirit look on what you see;
on sin and pain and death, on grief and separation and on loss. Yet does
He know one thing must still be true; God still is Love, and this is not
His Will.
This is the Thought Which brings illusions to the truth, and sees them
as appearances behind which is the changeless and the sure. This is the
Thought which saves and which forgives, because It lays no faith in what
is not created by the only Source It knows. This is the Thought
Whose function is to save by giving you Its function as your own.
Salvation is your function with the One to Whom the plan was given. Now
are you entrusted with this plan, along with Him. He has one answer to
appearances regardless of their form, their size, their depth, or any
attribute they seem to have:
“Salvation is my only function here.
God still is Love, and this is not His Will.”
You who will yet work miracles, be sure you practice well the idea for
today. Try to perceive the strength in what you say, for these are words
in which your freedom lies. Your Father loves you. All the world of pain
is not His Will. Forgive yourself the thought He wanted this for you.
Then let the Thought with which He has replaced all your mistakes enter
the darkened places of your mind which thought the thoughts that never
were His Will.
This part belongs to God, as does the rest. It does not think its
solitary thoughts and make them real by hiding them from Him. Let in the
light, and you will look upon no obstacle to what He wills for you. Open
your secrets to His kindly Light, and see how bright this Light still
shines in you.
Practice His Thought today, and let His Light seek out and lighten up
all darkened spots, and shine through them to join them to the rest. It
is God’s Will your mind be One with His. It is God’s Will that He has
but one Son. It is God’s Will that His one Son is you.
Think of these things in practicing today, and start your longer
practice periods with this instruction in the way of truth:
“Salvation is my only function here.
Salvation and forgiveness are the same.”
Then turn to Him who shares your function with you, and let Him teach
you what you need to learn to lay all fear aside, and know your Self as
Love Which has no opposite in you.
Forgive all thoughts which would oppose the truth of your completeness,
unity and peace. You cannot lose the gifts your Father gave. You do not
want to be another self. You have no function that is not of God. Forgive
yourself the one you think you made. Forgiveness and salvation are the
same. Forgive what you have made,
and you are saved.
You have a special message for today which has the power to remove all
forms of doubt and fear forever from your mind. If you are tempted to
believe them true, remember that appearances can not withstand the truth
these mighty words contain:
“Salvation is my only function here.
God still is Love, and this is not His Will.”
Your only function tells you you are One. Remind yourself of this
between the times you give five minutes to be shared with Him Who shares
God’s plan with you. Remind yourself:
“Salvation is my only function here.”
Thus do you lay forgiveness on your mind, and let all fear be gently
laid aside that Love may find Its rightful place in you, and show you
that you are the Son of God.