Week 29—Monday 1 John 4:13, 17
1 John 4:13, 17
THE “THIS-NESS” OF THE GOSPEL
The Holy Spirit did exactly what Jesus said the Spirit would do—guided them into all Truth. For ten days—the ten days which shook and shaped the world—they were guided to surrender this, that, and the other until they came to themselves and they surrendered that last barrier. And the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, flooded them as if the Spirit had been pent up for ages. This was the Moment. God was to rule persons from within, by their consent, according to a pattern fixed in Jesus and according to a power supplied by the Holy Spirit—from within.
This was the greatest leap forward in the moral and spiritual history of humanity. The Divine Word was becoming flesh in ordinary humanity, very ordinary humanity. Infinite possibilities opened to anybody, everybody, provided they surrendered and cooperated with this Divine Process. And it was not to be imparted to the learned, but to the willing. That opened the gates to all. No one barred, except the unwilling.
Peter announced the coming of this astonishing fact in these words: “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you see and hear”(Acts 2:32-33). Note that last phrase: “This which you see and hear.” It was “this,” not “that,” or “yonder”—it was this, a present incarnate fact. The center of emphasis had been taken out of the past and out of the future and put into the present. The “this-ness” was unique. The longing had become life, the search had become arrival, the Way had become the Truth and the Life. It was here—and available. The Desire of the Ages had become the Possession of the Present. And you could “see” it. The Word had become flesh in them. It was primarily seeing and secondarily hearing. The flesh had become Word and the flesh was proclaiming the Word. Seeing was believing.
O Blessed Father, we thank you for this moment. And we thank you that the Moment is not past, it is Now. It is available Now. All we have to do is reach forth willing hands and take It. And there are no favorites. We thank you, thank you. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I live in the Eternal Now, in the Eternal Here, with the Eternal.