Following Me Is Lived in Everyday Life

Again and again the question is asked what it means to follow Jesus Christ in daily life. How is one to manage to be and remain connected with God when so much assails one every day; when work must be done; when the events of the day demand our full attention?

Then questions are asked along these lines:

“Am I supposed to think about God all day long? What is meant by loving everyone? How is it to be understood that one should see God in everyone and everything? Is that even possible when at the same time one is constantly being called upon in one’s job, household, family, and so forth? Am I supposed to meditate several times a day? How can I meet such high demands? As a human being with my faults and shortcomings, am I not overburdened by them? Is too much being asked of me if I am supposed to take Jesus and His life as my example? What rules must I observe? Is it really enough to make an effort? And so on, and so on, and so on …”

We all know such questions, which often even become doubts about whether it makes any sense at all to walk this path when one is repeatedly confronted with one’s “failure” and work, restlessness, and the bustle around us have once again overwhelmed us—even though one is of good will. Added to this is that from different sides different things are taught as necessary, right, and to be fulfilled, because otherwise the hoped-for success supposedly will fail to appear. Whoever is not yet sure, perhaps still adheres to this or that view, or even approaches the matter with worries or fears about whether he is doing everything right, runs the risk of stagnating because of sheer “I don’t want to make any mistakes.”

Yet the way to God is not such a complicated matter at all. It often only appears so because various false ideas have taken root in our minds about everything one must do and refrain from doing; and because until now the completely uncomplicated path that everyone in the world can walk has scarcely been known to us except in theory. This does not mean that putting “love—and nothing else” into practice is always easy. Perhaps that is why we do not so gladly set about it and prefer to accept outward regulations and instructions that we believe are easier to fulfill than practicing inner work.

The answer to these questions—especially since it comes from the Source of all life—will be understandable to all sincere seekers.

Divine Revelation

My beloved brothers and sisters, I speak to you as your God, as the eternal Spirit of love who incarnated in Jesus of Nazareth and thereby became your brother and likewise a human being, just as you presently live as human beings on earth.

I remind you that you are spirit and that you wear your human covering only temporarily. The spirit within you—My Spirit and at the same time your eternal life—is love! It is highest consciousness, even if this is still incomprehensible to you. It is from Me; it has never truly separated from Me, even if outwardly this presently seems so. The bond between Me and you is indissoluble. That is why I will not lose you, no matter what others teach you. One end of the bond is anchored in Me, the other in the depth of your soul.

You are Mine, you remain Mine, and you will once again immerse yourself in the infinitely vast sea of eternal harmony and all-embracing life in which you had your place and will occupy it again.

The bond that unites us consists—for you inconceivably—of pure energy of love. Even though this is an entirely inadequate image, you can compare it with a safety line connecting someone who ventures into unknown terrain with his helpers. It is the guarantee that he will find his way back.

Some of you know the saying, “Whoever wants to enter heaven again must carry heaven within himself,” which means: he must again have become love, for heaven is love. Here, as throughout creation, the law applies that like again attracts like.

If something has fallen out of balance, equilibrium must be restored. Disharmony must become harmony again. That is the law. It ensures that everything returns to Me.

What fell out of love must again become love. That is a simple and understandable principle. Once this has been accomplished, everything is again in unity. All human beings and souls are on the way to immerse themselves again in unity and remain in it forever.

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I will give you an image: If you have drunk too little, eating a great deal is of no use in restoring equilibrium. Too little sleep cannot be compensated for by an excess of movement either, just as generosity in giving donations is no substitute for unkindness and selfishness.

Therefore a greater capacity for love is achieved only through selfless love lived out in daily life, not through techniques, accumulation of knowledge, study, rites, ceremonies, withdrawal from the world, and much more; that is why every one of you is incarnated, and that is why he lives in precisely the circumstances and together with the people who presently determine his existence.

Therefore love alone is needed to let the power of your soul grow. In its selfless nature it expresses itself in many ways in daily life, first and foremost through loving conduct toward your neighbor, which is the foundation for your love for Me. It is not possible to behave with indifference or rejection toward one’s neighbor and at the same time love Me, for I live in your neighbor as well.

I taught and lived out nothing else as Jesus of Nazareth.

But what does this mean for the human being? How is he to put it into practice?

First and foremost it is important for you to realize that following Me, if you seek it, happens in your daily life, and that in doing so your neighbor is your most important helper; for without him you can learn nothing. He is your mirror, and if you were already able to go through your day fully consciously, you would recognize so many mirrors that it would be difficult for you to register and heed everything and draw the necessary conclusions from it for yourselves and your conduct.

But that is not necessary either. You would be overburdened and would soon give up your inner work. The many spiritual helpers who stand at your side on My commission know the right “dose.” They guide you to the people and into the situations that represent a small or large learning task for you. But one of the problems is that with your thoughts and actions you are somewhere else entirely, that you do not recognize that here and now you are being called upon to be attentive and react rightly, that is, in the spirit of love.

It is not that you do not know how you should act. The commandment to love God and one’s neighbor is known worldwide. It is something else: daily life does not let you be watchful enough; not least the many distractions to which you are constantly exposed contribute to this, and often enough your unwillingness to have to deal with yourselves and your neighbor “yet again.”

If you want to change this, then begin the day consciously with Me. Ask Me to draw your attention to the events that can be significant for you, in which you can put your intention “love—and nothing else” into practice. I will help you be attentive; even if it is only a brief impulse that, with a small “Pay attention,” reminds you to consider what right action is here and perhaps how to act differently from in the past.

Another problem is that many of you believe it must be something grand, new, and special that you are to do when it comes to following Me. They think it is simply too little “only” to love! They imagine who knows what, something they would have to do outwardly or first acquire with great effort in order to meet the high demands—which I do not make of them at all.

Simply love?

Yes, My brother, My sister, simply love! For it is a matter of balancing the account called “love” again and refilling the side that shows a deficit.

If that seems too little to you, then in a quiet hour go within and turn over within yourself the question of what it means to love. If, with My help, you then recognize the great spectrum of selfless love and of following Me, you will also understand that the principle is indeed quite simple—so simple that anyone can follow it step by step if he has the will to do so—but that putting it into practice has its pitfalls, or at least is not quite as problem-free as it appears to many at first glance. For most of you still have no real idea of what it means to love as I taught, which, by the way, also includes love for oneself.

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Life continually offers you opportunities to practice love, for as a rule you incarnated precisely for this reason: you want to learn something you do not yet master to the desired degree. Life—you also aptly call it “earth-school”—places something before you every day for realization, something brought about or permitted by My law. For it is My desire and will, as it is your soul’s, that you mature inwardly and become strong.

Among the things to which you might pay a little more attention in the future—as only one example among many—are your thoughts and the inner feelings lying beneath them. Perhaps the question arises within you what your thoughts and inner feelings have to do with putting My commandment of love into practice. Much more than you think, because your words and actions arise from them.

You still too seldom succeed in seeing your fellow human beings “neutrally,” that is, without an immediate, usually unintended classification, evaluation, judgment, or perhaps even condemnation by you. Very few reflect that here already there is loveless, often devaluing conduct—strictly speaking, a violation of the commandment of love. How often does this happen to you? If you include all your conversations during the course of the day, what happens in traffic, encounters while shopping, negative reports in newspapers and on television, difficult situations at work or in the family, and much more, quite a lot comes together.

Certainly there are worse things than thinking negatively or becoming upset now and then. That is not the point either, but rather to develop a sense of how many possibilities the day offers to observe oneself and then recognize: Here I could practice in order to improve something.

This was only one example. There would be countless more that you can find yourselves if this is important to you. The spectrum of disregarding the commandment of love is broad. Just one small indication: carelessness belongs to it just as much as disorder, inability to let go, envy and jealousy, lack of trust, selfish conduct, power games, lack of remorse, and infinitely much more; not to forget bearing grudges and being unable or unwilling to forgive.

Some of it is directed against your neighbor, some against yourselves because you do not yet love yourselves enough; but loveless conduct always leaves traces in your soul and often in your body as well.

All this and more falls under the commandment to love God and one’s neighbor, under love—and nothing else. And without your therefore immediately becoming discouraged, for I am at your side as love that strengthens you: it also includes dealing with yourselves, searching for the motives behind your own conduct, making decisions, and, in the rightly understood sense, fighting. And getting up when you have fallen, if necessary again and again and again! I help you with this. Only if you decide to remain lying down are My hands bound, because I respect your free will.

One or another among you will be surprised at the broad space occupied by the simple commandment of My love. When you begin in this way to work on yourselves with Me, you will discover, on the one hand, that it does not work without attentiveness and practice, and, on the other hand, that no other technique or exertion is needed because inner work will fill you, sometimes perhaps more than you presently like or are ready to do.

And if you still believe you must offer Me a sacrifice because “only” loving seems insufficient to you, then sacrifice to Me, little by little, your all-too-human ideas and wishes; but do not do this in fanaticism or out of fear that otherwise you will not be enough for Me. I love you as you are as well—as you are at this moment.

But I want to help you become again what you have been from eternity, so that your walk on earth may be easier for you, which is difficult enough anyway.

That, My beloved brothers and sisters, is the way. There is no other. It is a simple principle because I came for all human beings, regardless of what race or culture they presently belong to. All must be able to walk it, otherwise I would not be justice.

If it still seems too undemanding to you and challenges you too little, then I tell you with a smile: Try it. I am with you.

Amen