2021-02-14-The Ways of a Consecrated Heart

Session

Quote

“In the kingdom, being righteous, by faith, must precede doing righteousness in the daily life of the mortals of earth.” (UB, 140:10.1)

Lesson

Thought Adjuster: “The stern Jewish religious system imposed the dutiful performance of specific rituals as the means of attaining salvation. Therefore, Jesus had a tough time imparting his audience with the liberating truth that the fellowship of God's sons is joyous and freely attainable by simple and sincere faith. Jesus unceremoniously reduced the 613 commandments of the Jewish religion to the single heart-prompted admonition of the Golden Rule.

Many are those who fool themselves into believing they are made righteous through ostentatious devotional stances. Their doing is hypocritical, and their abidance to strict rituals contributes nothing to their soul growth. It impairs it by the psychological backlash of spiritual smugness. Their actions may have the veneer of charitable deeds but do not surge from opened hearts. They are motivated by enslaved minds, conditioned to fear a loving God. Since they are not made fecund by love, how could they yield the uplifting and abundant fruits of Spirit?

“Every time man yields to anxiety, he takes one step away from the leading of the spirit of his heart... If you are not right on the inside, it is useless to pray for that which is on the outside... If I hear your prayers, it is because you come before me with a clean heart, free from falsehood and hypocrisy, with a soul which reflects truth like a mirror. If you would gain immortality, forsake the world and come to me.” (UB, 131:7.3)

Ask Jesus’ Spirit of Truth to speak directly to your heart. It will most certainly reboot it. By yielding to Jesus' cheerful ‘Follow me!’ you are instantly following the leadings of your heart. It cannot be otherwise, as his ways were the ways of a consecrated heart.”