A Course in Miracles Text Made Simple

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.

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Chapter 7: The Gifts of the Kingdom

Section XI: The State of Grace

Read ACIM Chapter 7, Section XI (pages 136-137)

What does it mean to be in a state of grace?

We were all created by Love to be Love. Being Love is extending Love. Extending Love is our natural state. When we extend Love, we can feel It. We know we are in Love. This is our joy. This is the state of grace. We naturally have joy because when we are extending Love, we are extending joy. When we are not extending Love, we are not in our natural state and will therefore experience strain. We do not function well in the ego’s alien environment because this is not where we belong.

Jesus reminds us that we can return to our natural state. We do this by extending the Love of God we have and are to everyone. “You who could give the Love of God to everything you see and touch and remember, are literally denying Heaven to yourself.” (3:11) We are denying Heaven to ourselves when we withhold extension of the Love of God. When we withhold Love, we are not being what we are and this causes all our difficulties.

Why does Jesus tell us that Love is always the answer?

You may have heard many times that Love is the answer. Here we are seeing that when we do not extend Love, we are not in a state of grace. Not extending Love is alien to our very nature and is out of accord with why we were created. We were created to be Love and extend Love. When we are not extending Love, we are not accepting our inheritance and we are not happy. Not being what we are is fearful because fear is the absence of Love. Giving Love is really our joy and without giving Love we do not experience joy.

How do we hold Love in our mind?

Jesus is making it very clear in this section that it is only through extending Love that we hold Love in our mind. This is how we teach Love. Love is all there is, and remembering this returns us to our natural state of grace. “The Majesty of God is there, for you to recognize and appreciate and know. Recognizing the Majesty of God as your brother is to accept your own inheritance. God gives only equally.” (5:3-5)

So our job here is to recognize every brother as the Majesty of God. This is how we teach the Kingdom to the Kingdom. “There are no exceptions to this lesson because the lack of exceptions is the lesson. Every Son who returns to the Kingdom with this lesson in his heart has healed the Sonship and given thanks to God.” (4:2-3) As we learn to recognize every brother as the Majesty of God without exception, that is what we teach and that is what we learn.

Being willing to see only Love is how we return to knowing that we are in God and with God. Being willing to extend only Love returns us to our natural state. When we are in our natural state, we feel God’s grace and God’s joy. We are all the same Love. This is the lesson we came to learn and to teach. “Being is known by sharing. Because God shared His Being with you, you can know Him.” (7:6-7) When we know the truth about every Son of God, we are accepting all of God without exception.

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