Borderland
July 22, 2014
Borderland
Our Great Master came into
the world and, facing the limitations, the prevailing levels of consciousness,
the ceilings, the bigotry and the self-righteousness, and above all, the
unresponsiveness, of the world, He carried through to Victory. It remains for
us, and for all who are willing to give consideration to the Way, the Truth and
the Life, to prove our allegiance to our KING by likewise carrying through to
Victory. When we accept the proffered citizenship in the Kingdom of God on
earth, so that we begin to fulfill those specifications that He set down by
which we might prove that we are in the world but not of it, there is the
necessity of our recognizing loyalty to our KING, and our daily lives should
prove our patriotism in His Kingdom. All too often individuals who claim to
have accepted our KING are inclined to act as if personal considerations were
of primary moment when they consider the problems and the choices that come
before them.
If we Love our KING, and we
Love our Country, then loyalty and patriotism are spontaneously there, having
their influence every moment of every day, in relationship to every question,
conditioning our attitudes in the face of every problem. Personal
considerations are never primary factors in the face of true loyalty and
patriotism. We recognize and appreciate, in this outer world, loyalty to one's
government, patriotism to one's country. These are things that carry the
Current of Nobility, but the governments of this outer world although they are
essential with things as they are, cannot offer the blessings or provide the
joys and satisfactions that are to be found in the Kingdom that is ruled by the
Prince of Peace.
When we cross the line from
one country to another in this world, our citizenship has to be recognized in
relationship to such border crossings. There are many individuals in the world
today who would like to cross the border from the place where they are, to some
other country, who, by reason of conditions or restrictions imposed, cannot do
so. We have, in relationship to our Ministry, the problem of assisting those
who would become citizens of the Christ Kingdom to cross the boundaries into
the Kingdom. There is a boundary line. Tens of thousands move toward that
boundary line—and the world calls them good. Some reach the boundary line and
decide to camp there, or to return back to the places from whence they came. A
few are willing to accept the conditions of entry into the Kingdom. Yet, all
who will come find that the Way is opened before them if they will but let it
be so.
The problems of development
in the Spiritual sense are, essentially, the problems of crossing that boundary
line, so that the individual is no more of the world, although he is in it;
and, crossing that boundary line, the individual finds that he cannot penetrate
to the open freedom of the Heart of the Kingdom until he passes through what we
might call a Borderland. In this Borderland the individual begins to truly
comprehend the meaning of the Master's Words, "By this shall all men know
that ye are my disciples, if ye have love, one to another".
In this Borderland the
individual learns the customs and the language of the people of the Kingdom. In
this Borderland the individual proves his loyalty to our KING, and by his life
he reveals as to whether or not he is truly a Patriot of the Kingdom. In this
Borderland the individual must establish the facts as to whether or not he
believes in the only begotten Son of God on earth, and there is absolutely no
way by which any may enter on a basis of deception.
Some undertake to deceive,
as a conscious act or a consciously determined course of action; others
undertake to deceive unconsciously because they have deceived themselves, and
because they are trying to carry the methods and customs of the outer world
into the Kingdom. It cannot be done. No one, under any circumstance, can pass
beyond this Borderland into the Kingdom on earth until he has learned to be true
to God, true to his KING, true to his Country, true to himself, true to his
brother man.
If one loves one's KING and
one's Country more than life itself, he is not going to pose personal
considerations as being of primary importance in his attitude toward problems
in his expression of choices as they arise in daily life.
At the present time we are working in that Borderland.
To varying degrees you have ascended the pleasant slopes of the range of hills
that are to be found in this Borderland, and from such vantage points as you
have attained, you have looked into the Kingdom, so to speak, you have glimpsed
some of the Glory, you have felt something of the Peace and known something of
the Joy, you have experienced something of the satisfactions and the wonder of
Being which are known in the Kingdom.
It is impossible for anyone to slip in by disguising
himself to make himself appear to be something that he is not. Each must come
just as he is, willing to become a citizen of the Christ Kingdom, willing to
learn the manners and customs, willing to learn the language, willing to be
cleansed and purified and made Whole, willing to let the outer mind be stilled,
willing to let the great calm be a Reality in the feeling realm.
He who looks back overmuch to the kingdom of the
prince of this world will find himself moving outward from the Borderland and
slipping back across the boundary into the realm of the prince of death. He
whose eyes are steadfastly set upon that of true citizenship in the Kingdom
cannot be turned aside by conditions or circumstances or by what any may think
or say or do. Such an one is not looking for excuse to turn back. This gives a
key to attitudes that are made manifest with respect to the obstacles that
appear in the path.
He who is looking for excuses to turn back always
finds them, even in the Borderland, but he whose eyes are steadfastly set upon
Kingdom will accept no excuses. Obstacles do not suggest that he cannot get
through; obstacles simply raise the question, "How can I get through or
around or over, because get around or through or over I must and I will, in the
Name of my KING". Those who turn back under any pretext whatsoever,
because of any excuse or because of obstacle or for anything else that may be
called a reason, are utterly unworthy of citizenship in the Kingdom, for those
who are worthy do not see excuses when they see obstacles; they do not see
reasons for turning back when they are faced with problems; they only see an
opportunity to prove that they Love their KING and their Country.
Our Ministry is to those
who come to the Borderland and to those who are passing through the Borderland.
Those who do not, willingly and of themselves, come to the Borderland are
beyond our range of Ministry. Those who cross back out of the Borderland into
the world are beyond our range of Ministry. Our Ministry begins at the Border.
Our Ministry is to those who would cross the Border and who would pass through
the Borderland. For the time being, we simply are not concerned, from the
standpoint of individuals who are on the other side of the Border. Each will,
in season, be given his opportunity if he remains true to the inherent longing
within himself to find Fulfillment in relationship to the things of God, but,
for the present, our Ministry is at the Border and in the Borderland.
Those who think to gain
some point for themselves or to benefit in some fashion, by placing personal
considerations first in relationship to their problems and their choices, are
only closing the gates in front of themselves. They gain utterly and absolutely
nothing. Such action brings loss always. Once the individual has stepped across
the Border into the Borderland, every thought, every word, every feeling, every
deed, reveals something as to where one's allegiance rests. If it is to our
KING, to the Christ Kingdom, if it is to the Banner of the Prince of Peace,
then it will be revealed through thought and word and feeling and deed—but, if
allegiance still rests with the prince of this world, it will likewise be revealed.
No matter how hard any may try, he cannot learn the language of the Kingdom
while he retains an attitude of allegiance to the banner of the prince of this
world.
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