To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Text Made Simple, we recommend that
you read the corresponding chapter and section in the Text of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Read A Course in Miracles, Chapter 31, Section VIII. (pages 666-669)
Temptation teaches in all its forms that we are a body that is frail and eventually dies. Temptation teaches that we are bound by the body and limited by its strength. In this section Jesus asks that we move past the temptation to believe in the limitations of the body and choose instead the strength of Christ in us.
He tells us, “You always choose between your weakness and the strength of Christ in you. An what you choose is what you think is real. Simply by never using weakness to direct your actions, you have given it no power. And the light of Christ in you is given charge of everything you do. For you have brought your weakness unto Him, and He has given you His strength instead.” (1:3-7)
He asks us to choose once again. Instead of choosing to believe in the weakness of the body, we are asked to choose the strength of God that resides in our right mind. “He would not leave you comfortless, alone in dreams of hell, but would release your mind from everything that hides His face from you. His holiness is yours because He is the only Power that is real in you. His strength is yours because He is the Self That God created as His only Son.” (3:5-7 italics added)
He encourages us to see temptation as another opportunity to let our minds be transformed by the only Power that is real in us. He sees it as a perfect opportunity to let our true Self heal our minds.
He tells us, “Be never fearful of temptation, then, but see it as it is; another chance to choose again, and let Christ’s strength prevail in every circumstance and every place you raised an image of yourself before. For what appears to hide the face of Christ is powerless before His majesty, and disappears before His holy sight.” (4:2-3)
The saviors of the world are those who choose the strength of the Christ Mind instead of the weakness of the ego thought system. Jesus explains: “The saviors of the world, who see like Him, are merely those who choose His strength instead of their own weakness, seen apart from Him. They will redeem the world, for they are joined in all the power of the Will of God. And what they will is only what He wills.” (4:4-6 italics added)
When we find ourselves believing in limitation, suffering and pain, Jesus guides us to invite Christ’s strength in us to prevail. When we are tempted, he guides us to say:
“I am as God created me. His Son can suffer nothing. And I am His Son.” (5:2-4)
When we repeat this, we are inviting the Truth in our minds to take over. We are stepping back from past habits of making our weakness real by seeing ourselves as a separate body. “And thus are miracles as natural as fear and agony appeared to be before the choice for holiness was made. For in that choice are false distinctions gone, illusory alternatives laid by, and nothing left to interfere with truth.” (5:6-7)
The choice that brings healing and freedom is to see the Christ in every brother we see or even think of. As we choose to see the Christ in every brother instead of seeing him limited by the body, our mind is relieved of the pain and suffering that believing in the ego’s fearful thought system brings.
Jesus tells us: “Choose once again what you would have him be, remembering that every choice you make establishes your own identity as you will see it and believe it is.” (6:5) As we see the Christ in our brother, we help him see It in himself. It also reinforces the truth of our own Identity as one with the Christ Mind.
We are being guided to share Christ’s vision to bring in a vision of a different world. Jesus is inviting us to share his holy vision. He tells us, “Hear me, my brother, hear and join with me. God has ordained I cannot call in vain, and in His certainty I rest content. For you will hear, and you will choose again. And in this choice is everyone made free.” (9:4-7)
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