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All who have studied and understood the Urantia Papers are in a position to make a free will decision to undertake this special task of spreading the gospel message simply by living as Jesus lived. In reality, if we have read and understood these Papers, it is difficult to see how we can avoid doing so.
However, at the beginning of their association, Jesus did give his apostles the opportunity to opt out from apostleship and to accept discipleship (1577), so perhaps it is possible.
Of course, throughout the intervening centuries, many who had not even heard of the Urantia Papers already made that decision to live as Jesus lived--and carried it out successfully. Most are unsung, while others like Francis of Assisi and Mother Teresa have become folk heroes.
Assuming we opt in, that is to do our best to spread Jesus' original gospel by living our lives as Jesus lived his, what comes next? Jesus himself went through this experience when he opted for incarnation on our planet. From his brother creator-son, Immanuel, he received this advice:
"You must become wholly and unreservedly dependent upon your Paradise Father for safe conduct throughout the unrevealed vicissitudes of your mortal career." (1325)
Jesus passed this same advice on to us via his statement to Ganid of his own implicit belief:
"Ganid, I have absolute confidence in my heavenly Father's overcare; I am consecrated to doing the will of my Father in heaven. I do not believe that real harm can befall me; I do not believe that my lifework can really be jeopardized by anything my enemies might wish to visit upon me, and surely we have no violence to fear from our friends. I am absolutely assured that the entire universe is friendly to me--this all-powerful truth I insist on believing with a wholehearted trust in spite of all appearances to the contrary." (1469)
To carry out our task as bearers or renewers of Jesus' original gospel, we must ourselves have "entered the kingdom." The sole proof that we can offer another that we have done so is by the fruit of the spirit that will automatically appear in our lives.
"But for you, my children, and for all others who would follow you into this kingdom, there is set a severe test. Faith alone will pass you through its portals, but you must bring forth the fruits of my Father's spirit if you would continue to ascend in the progressive life of the divine fellowship." (1569)
Jesus was seldom severe or condemnatory when speaking with his followers. But with regard to this yielding the fruits of the spirit in their lives, his demands may seem so severe as to appear almost out of character. The following words were spoken during a morontia appearance of the resurrected Jesus at Tyre. They surely must be of great significance:
"My Father sent me into the world to proclaim this salvation of sonship to all men. And so send I you abroad to preach this salvation of sonship. Salvation is the free gift of God, but those who are born of the spirit will immediately begin to show forth the fruits of the spirit in loving service to their fellow creatures.
"And the fruits of the divine spirit which are yielded in the lives of spirit-born and God-knowing mortals are: loving service, unselfish devotion, courageous loyalty, sincere fairness, enlightened honesty, undying hope, confiding trust, merciful ministry, unfailing goodness, forgiving tolerance, and enduring peace.
"If professed believers bear not these fruits of the divine spirit in their lives, they are dead; the Spirit of Truth is not in them; they are useless branches on the living vine, and they soon will be taken away.
"My Father requires of the children of faith that they bear much spirit fruit. If, therefore, you are not fruitful, he will dig about your roots and cut away your unfruitful branches. Increasingly, must you yield the fruits of the spirit as you progress heavenward in the kingdom of God.
"You may enter the kingdom as a child, but the Father requires that you grow up, by grace, to the full stature of spiritual adulthood. And when you go abroad to tell all nations the good news of this gospel, I will go before you, and my Spirit of Truth shall abide in your hearts. My peace I leave with you." (2054)
For sincere and dedicated readers of the Urantia Papers, the future surely will be both exciting and fruitful. But we must keep our feet on the ground, and do as Jesus did--with patience and forbearance, serve as we pass by, walking moment by moment in the presence of God, and taking one day at a time, in total faith and trust of the Father's loving overcare.
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