Becoming a Friend of God

Becoming a Friend of God

By Don Carroll

 

“Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” John 14:15, King James Version (KJV)

 

The readings tell us clearly our ultimate purpose is to become co-creators with God, to be companions, friends.

 

“Make thyself, then, put thyself, be thyself, in companionship with Creative Forces. For the purpose is that each soul should be a co-creator with God.” (4047-2)

 

Co-creation refers to the act of creating as a partner with the divine. According to the Cayce readings, co-creation is a birthright of each soul to become a “co-laborer” with creative forces. (definition from the Official Edgar Cayce Readings DVD-rom)

 

This seems to be a daunting mission; to take on the mantle of co-creating with God and being friends. At times we may feel unworthy or even fearful of such a friendship. We may even feel at a loss as to how to be such a friend or companion. But we don’t need to feel overwhelmed; we are given all the time and lifetimes we need to become God’s friends.

 

“For the Lord hath not willed that any soul should perish, but hath prepared ways of escape. He who seeks will find. He who knocks, to him it will be opened. These are irrefutable, these are unchangeable. What will ye do about them? This is left to the individual. The Lord can only offer. Man, as His child, as a co-creator with the Creative Forces, accepts or rejects. There's no half way. You are or you are not! To be sure, there are various stages of unfoldment, of development, but use that thou knowest to do and the Lord will give thee the next step. He doesn't fail in His promises, even though ye may be far, far away.” (3654-1)

 

I think the above reading points the way to this destined companionship. We are all children of God. God, as a parent, knows that sooner or later we will grow up, mature. I think of my own children. I love them all dearly. As young children I loved them, but they really couldn’t be my friends. Now that they have grown to adulthood, I love them as much as ever, and they are also my friends and companions. We share and participate together and know each other as equals. I sometimes feel as if God is the parent of 7 billion eight-year-olds, loving them all and anticipating, with great patience, their growth to adulthood, to a state of friendship.

 

This also explains for me the purpose of reincarnation: to give all of us all the time we need to reach spiritual adulthood and become God’s friends. This similarly explains the theological debate of free will versus predestination. We have free will to make any choices we want—doing so in any manner we wish and taking as many lifetimes as we need to become such friends. The predestination is in that God has not willed that any soul will perish. If it takes 30 lifetimes or 3,000 lifetimes (however far, far away we may be), ultimately we will become God’s friends. Much like the movie Groundhog Day, with Bill Murray—at first we may play with our lives inappropriately and for selfish purposes, but sooner or later we “get it” and unite with the greater good of love and friendship. Thomas Sugrue made this same point more than 70 years ago in an address given at the 10^th Annual A.R.E. Congress in 1941:

 

“Each of the systems of stars and planets represented, in this manner, a temptation to the souls; each represented also an opportunity for development, advancement, and growth toward the ideal of complete companionship with God—the position of co-creator in the vast and wonderful system of universal mind. The race of man was fostered by a soul which had already returned to God and had become a companion and co-creator with Him. This is the soul man knows as Christ” Excerpt from “The Meaning of Edgar Cayce” by Thomas Sugrue (Reports 202-194)

 

As to how we begin our ultimate journey of being friends with God; “in the vast and wonderful system of universal mind,” the readings show us a way. “In cooperation is the offering of self to be a channel of activity, of thought; for as line upon line, precept upon precept, comes, so does it come through the giving of self; for he that would have life must give life, they that would have love must show themselves lovely, they that would have friends must be friendly, they that would have cooperation must cooperate by the giving of self to that as is to be accomplished whether in the bringing of light to others, bringing of strength, health, understanding, these are one in Him.” (262-3)

 

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