A Letter From Norman
Oct 19, 1973
Dear Cynthia,
Love, all our real troubles are self-condemnation, either seeing ourselves as such poor failing things, or bemoaning our long distance from being what we would like to be in Christ, or think we see others to be. And we have to go on condemning and bemoaning while we go on looking for an answer in ourselves (though we keep saying we are looking for it in Christ). Paul meant it when he told us to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ"not a dead self, but dead to our one sin of not reckoning ourselves as who we really are, Christ in us and ourselves accepted, justified and perfected in Him. Then we accept ourselves and love ourselves, being in Him.
Then what about our apparent failures or our present sicknesses and weaknesses? The answer is, we live only in the present moment the Eternal NOW. You feel you failed in this or that, well if you did, it is not there in the sight of Him who "remembers sins and iniquities no more," and your present "sin" is in not believing that now it is no more in His blood. The recognition of the shed blood cleanses our conscience (or sense of guilt and failure)"Hebrews 9:14. And you say you wish your union with Christ was more of a fact, or that you had more freedom or joy in Him etc. But once again you are assessing yourself by your illusory feelings about yourself! But, instead, you say, "I am in perfect eternal Union now" even though you may feel more in hell than heaven! Read Ephesians 1 and 2 the present tense letter!! Now ARE we sons and so on. Then accept, praise, and go ahead.
So you are never going to "get through" by hoping, aspiring, self-condemning, or what-not. You are wasting your time. But by this painful time-wasting you are being given practice in transferring your "believing" to what you already are and who you already are"your human Cynthia spirit self eternally one with Himself, Jesus, the divine Spirit-self. So keep on practicing dear. And when you have temporarily "forgotten" (2 Pet. 1:9) and slipped unto your old ways, pick yourself up from false believing in guilt, weakness etc., and replace them by believing, accepting, praising NOW for who you are in Christ, and He in you, and leaving everything beyond the NOW to Him. As the Africans say, "Leave the past under the Blood, leave the future with God, and get walking"!
With all my love dear,
Norman
