If
you desire a thing, you set in motion
the machinery of the universe to gain
possession of it, but you must be zealous
in the pursuit in order to attain the
object of your desire. Desire goes before
every act of your life, hence it is good.
It is the very essence of good; it is
God Himself in a phase of life. When they
called Jesus good, He said: "Why
callest thou me good? none is good save
one, even God." So the universal
desire for achievement, giving its mighty
impulse to all things, is divinely good.
Divine enthusiasm is no respecter of persons
or things. It makes no distinctions. It
moves to new forms of expression even
that which appears corrupt. It tints the
cheek of the innocent babe, gleams from
the eye of the treacherous savage, and
lights in purity the face of the saint.
Some
have named this universal life impulse
God, and have left the impression that
it is all of God and that all the attributes
of God-Mind are therefore involved as
a conscious entity in every situation
where life is manifest. In this they lack
discrimination. God's Spirit goes forth
in mighty streams of life, love, substance,
and intelligence. Each of these attributes
is conscious only of the principle involved
in it and in the work that it has to do.
Though it is man's mission to combine
these inexhaustible potentialities under
divine law, man is free to do as he wills.
But the divine law cannot be broken, and
it holds man responsible for the result
of his labors. Man cannot corrupt the
inherent purity of any of God's attributes,
but he can unwisely combine them
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