May 06, 2018

12 Steps to Joy (3)

Trust in God (3)

            In the beginning the Word already existed.

                        The Word was with God,

                        And the Word was God.

            The Word existed in the beginning with God.

            God created everything through the Word,

                        And nothing was created except through the Word.

            The Word gave life to everything that was created,

                        And the life of the Word brought light to everyone.

            The light shines in the darkness,

                        And the darkness can never extinguish it.”

                                                                        John 1:1-5.

 

                        The Word was with God,

                        And the Word was God.

            The Word existed in the beginning with God.

Genesis 1:26 talks of how humanity came to be (yes, God used the evolutionary process, but the step into consciousness was God’s own):

Let Us make humanity in Our image, according to Our likeness. — God created humanity in God’s own image, in the image of God, God created humanity; male and female God created them.

But we see that strange plurality of Being as expressed in Genesis: “Let Us”. who is this “Us”? How is God a plural? This has been questioned and struggled with for several thousand years. The doctrinal statement that defines the Trinity was set in the early centuries of Christianity, but it is a challenge to wrap our heads around the concept around “one God but three distinct and separate Persons”.

But as strange as it sounds, John’s Gospel talks about this challenge in the form of the Word. First we see The Word was with God, that is, the Word stood separate from what was called God, or what we now call the Father. but the very next line, And the Word was God, states that at the same time that the Word was with God, the Word was God. Jesus echoed this during his last discourse: “as you, Father, are in Me, and I am in You.” (John 17:21). Jesus states clearly that He and what we call (and He called) the Father are one in Spirit and what appears to be physicality.

Now comes the strangest part: Jesus carries this challenging concept to include you and me: “That all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that You sent me. I have given them the glory You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one —” (John 17:21). Being created in the image of God includes all phases of God — including all of us being one just as the Trinity forms one God; not only being one in ourselves, but one as part of the Trinity, the Christ or Word of the Being of God. Paul talks of the “Body of Christ” often (see Romans 12:5, 1 Corinthians 10:17. 1 Corinthians 12:27, Ephesians 4:12, and Hebrews 13.3) as if the creative act of God was all inclusive.

The challenge you and I have is letting ourselves believe that I am more than this stumbling human who makes so many mistakes in life. Somehow we have to see what Jesus saw, and Paul understood, that despite all our flaws that often overwhelm us, that together we form the second coming of the physical Christ, in, as Jesus said, all the glory that is the Christ.

We are the glory of God! If only we would let ourselves see that, as proclaimed by Jesus and discussed many times in the letters of Paul. Our formal religions work hard to disclaim that, working only on how miserable we are and are complete failures – unless we follow whichever doctrine they proclaim. And only what they proclaim.

Somehow it is in the unity through diversity that we join in the Being we call the Word or Christ.

We will continue this next week.

Meditation

Eternal Spirit, I rest in You, I place all my trust in Your Joy and radiance. I ask that You grant me the openness to see Your Beauty and Glory in everything around me, from the forest and trees, the grass, the snow, all forms of life in every way. All of life, including the mountains and valleys, and even our own bodies that contain trillions of different life expressions, glorify in a breathtaking way all that is. And yet all this beauty is but a shadow of the universal glory that we are a part within all. I trust that my small contribution is part of the everlasting process that is evolving into the wonders of Your glory at all times. Grant that I may trust You sufficiently that I am willing to let my part of this Body of the Word is sufficient for my life to have had meaning and purpose to Your evolutionary process through eternity.

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MY BOOK, THE 12 STEPS TO JOY AND HAPPINESS, IS NOW AVAILABLE FROM HAY HOUSE, BALBOA PRESS, AMAZON, AND BARNES AND NOBLE, AS WELL AS OTHER SOURCES, IN HARD COVER, SOFT COVER, AND EBOOK FORMATS.

We are bound in the music of life where we dance and weave within that glorious melody, or what some call God. Now, God has said that we are the very image of God (Genesis 1:27), and as images of God, we have the inborn ability to have Joy and Happiness forever present in our life. The author, David L. Peters, is an octogenarian whose life has always been filled with joy, regardless of outward appearances. The wonders of the Kingdom of Heaven is everyone’s birthright, if you know how to let your Creator and the Universe enter your spirit. Jesus put it succinctly: “The Kingdom of God lies within” (Luke 17:21). The Kingdom of God, Paradise, Heaven: these lie within you, right now, waiting for you to only turn and see, and join in the dance. Paradise is right within us, but how do we unlock the door to this wonder of joy? This book lays a path open that the author has followed for almost 80 years, starting as a young boy in rural Ohio, and it operates as advertised. No matter how things look in life, how bad it seems, all one need do is look deeper within and find the joy that can fill life: life is good! The life of abundant joy and happiness is yours for the asking. Dip your toe in the living waters, and taste the Beauty of God that is awaiting.