An Idea Whose Time Has Come
November 8th, 2011
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by admin · Filed Under: Faith · Guidance · Inspiration · Visioning · healing
There is a flow of love and harmony everywhere, whether you are aware of it or not, and whether you are consciously moving in it or not. This is what the omnipresence of God means. In life we are on a journey from unconscious to conscious. You do not leave the Presence of God or the flow of life and love when you are negative or resistant. You leave the consciousness of the Presence, the consciousness of harmony and love. Yet the potential for harmony and its outer expression bringing light to those who dwell in darkness is always present within you.
I am reminded of one of the most significant events in the history of Christianity, the transforming experience of Paul on the Damascus road. You may remember the story. Paul, or Saul as he was called in those days, was very much involved in persecuting the Christians. He made a career out of it. He was a sincere person who devoted his life to stopping the spread of this upstart movement. While on the road to Damascus, nevertheless, he had the cosmic experience of a blinding light which left him physically in pain for several days, but which gave him an insight into his relatedness to the spiritual process so that he was guided to go to Damascus and visit a disciple named Ananias.
Visiting Ananias, he had some conversations that helped him to open his eyes. It is said that the scales dropped from his eyes, and his sight was restored. He then suddenly came out as a tremendous advocate of the Christian teaching and became one of its leading supporters. Here was man whose whole life was dedicated to the destruction of Christianity who suddenly became its chief advocate and spokesman. He had a complete reversal of life and threw himself into the new cause with all the ardent, twenty-four hours per day self-abandoning zeal that he had previously invested on the other side. Whereas previously he brought nothing but darkness and fear, he now brought light, love and inspiration into the lives of others.
If you have the desire to change your life, to be or do more or have more, if you have spent many unhappy moments wishing and hoping that you could be different, that you could overcome some overmastering weakness, then consider well the unmistakable meaning of Paul’s encounter for a moment. Paul revealed that a person can change.
The reason for Paul’s conversion was not that God had worked some special miracle for him because he was a specially endowed creature, but because he had the potential for change within him. Even though he might not have been consciously aware of it, he had the innate desire for change. The first step for us is to believe that we can change, that we err when we say, “I’m only human – what can you expect?” We are not only human – we are divine. We must look to the divine within us and begin to think about and act from strength rather than weakness.
The great moment in the life of Paul was the sudden impact of an idea that had obviously been running through his troubled mind for years. Have you ever puzzled over a problem for many hours or even days and months, and then suddenly said, “Oh, yes, I see,” suddenly when the light breaks through? It has been said that “there is nothing in all the world more powerful than an idea whose time has come.”
Paul had always been intrigued with the Christian idea, though like many of us he had resisted it, argued over it, and put his whole weight against it. Paul’s bitter and long struggle with the Christians was really an inner struggle with himself and his growing faith, a war being waged between his keenly developed intellect which reasoned against the Christ idea and his sensitive feeling nature which felt the truth.
We need to provide for ourselves opportunities to change our thoughts, manners, actions, through incentive, open-mindedness, and an eagerness to keep in step with life itself. This is what the study of Truth will do for you. There is little hope for change in your life unless you make frequent encounters with dynamic ideas. Eventually, one of them will hit you with the force of blinding light. It matters not what your weakness or problem may be, when you receive the impact of a dynamic idea, “the scales will fall from your eyes.” When we truly let go, or stop looking in a certain direction and start looking in another, we will find that the change for the better is not only easy, but divinely natural.
Paul’s experience of blindness is a symbol of this change of seeing. He could no longer see things as he did. He was helped by Ananias to see things in a new way. So, we too can begin to see the possibilities of a new way of life, of healing, adjustment, new blessings. Therefore, dare to behold and see yourself as already expressing and experiencing these things. Look for them, and expect them.
Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!
Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham
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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over forty years, invites you to enjoy more articles and/or subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at www.spiritualsolutionsblog.com
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