A friend told me yesterday about a piece she just read in our local newspaper. Our state leads the nation in traffic accidents due to texting. And some have been fatal, for texting driver and other motorists. Not that I text while at the wheel of my car.
But our conversation did make me think of staying safe while on the road. Fortunately, wherever our activities take us while we're driving, we can have peace of mind and freedom of action as we understand our inseparability from God.
Mary Baker Eddy, writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "The history of Christianity furnishes sublime proofs of the supporting influence and protecting power bestowed on man by his heavenly Father, omnipotent Mind, who gives man faith and understanding whereby to defend himself, not only from temptation, but from bodily suffering." (38])
This urgently needed spiritual and practical understanding of man's indissoluble relationship to God is accessible to all. Through the study of Christian Science we can learn those spiritual truths which enable us to drive without the nervousness and uncertainty that bothers so many.
The Bible says, "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. (Psalms 90:1) To
really comprehend this glorious fact of man's perfect unity with God, good, is to enjoy His protecting care under every conceivable human circumstance. We can never for a moment be outside the sphere of divine Love's protecting, saving influence. As Mrs. Eddy writes, "Existence, separate from divinity, Science explains as impossible." Science and Health, p. 522
The physical senses tell us we're subject to the material conditions surrounding us, that despite how careful we may be while driving, we still remain pretty much potential victims of other persons who can be irresponsible, distracted, dangerous. Christian Science maintains the opposite view. It's teachings assure us that man--the spiritual, God-created man--referred to in the first chapter of the Bible--is the beloved child of His Maker, divine Mind, never for an instant separated from His all-encompassing care. It is further seen that man is neither a victim nor the perpetrator of dangerous behavior. The divine Mind is the only Mind of man, and when we know this truth with the conviction that comes of true, spiritual understanding--and we aren't just talking ourselves into it--we can take to the road without fear.
Our Master, Christ Jesus, certainly relied on God whenever he was in a dangerous situation. It was his absolute conviction of being one with his Father that empowered Jesus to demonstrate dominion over any circumstance It can do the same for you and me.
Jesus said "He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone." (John 8:29) Nor does the Father ever leave us alone and unprotected; rather, He keeps each and every one of us continuously secure in His omnipotent care. Understanding this, again, we can feel and be safe the entire time we're driving our cars.
Thursday, March 14, 2019
Monday, March 4, 2019
Food for Thought
Why I follow Christ Jesus and Christian Science --
From a Bible Lesson written by the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy:
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved -- Acts xvi.31.
The Scriptures require more than s simple admission and feeble acceptance of the truths they present; they require a living faith, that so incorporates their lessons into our lives that these truths become the motive-power for every act.
Our chosen text is one more frequently used than many others, perhaps, to exhort people to turn from sin and to strive after holiness; but we fear the full import of this text is not yet recognized. It means a full salvation, -- man saved from sin, sickness and death; for, unless this be so, no man can be fully fitted for heaven in the way which Jesus marked out and bade his followers pursue."
(Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 196, 197)
I truly believe and have experienced over many years as both a follower of our dear Master and a student of the teachings of divine Science contained in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy that one needs both, as the above text points out, to be completely saved and free as God intends.
From a Bible Lesson written by the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy:
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved -- Acts xvi.31.
The Scriptures require more than s simple admission and feeble acceptance of the truths they present; they require a living faith, that so incorporates their lessons into our lives that these truths become the motive-power for every act.
Our chosen text is one more frequently used than many others, perhaps, to exhort people to turn from sin and to strive after holiness; but we fear the full import of this text is not yet recognized. It means a full salvation, -- man saved from sin, sickness and death; for, unless this be so, no man can be fully fitted for heaven in the way which Jesus marked out and bade his followers pursue."
(Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 196, 197)
I truly believe and have experienced over many years as both a follower of our dear Master and a student of the teachings of divine Science contained in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy that one needs both, as the above text points out, to be completely saved and free as God intends.
Saturday, March 2, 2019
Christ-healing
Christ Jesus knew God, good, to be all powerful and ever present. As a result, he was able to refute successfully the claims of material sense and to heal quickly and completely. Gaining this spiritual conviction is realizable for every person through Christian Science.
We learn through its teachings that God is sovereign, supreme, the creator of all. He is our loving Father who never fails us. If we seem not to be experiencing His help, we've become overly impressed by false beliefs, illusions--a situation always correctable through understanding divine truths.
Our rationale for disbelieving disease, inharmony, or defects is God's eternal unchangeableness. Man, like the Mind that formed him, remains perfect. Man never fluctuates between wholeness and impairment, never drops down into a material, imperfect state of being. In truth, we remain the way our creator made us. When God finished His work, the Bible says, He pronounced it very good It is simply the material view of things that a is incorrect, a belief that something is part of man which Mind neither put there nor sees. For in Mind, God, good, where each of us has his true uninvadvable being, there is no sickness, no pain, lack, or fear to mesmerize us.
Reading the New Testament, one is struck by the sense of unity that Jesus felt with the Father. No matter what the mortal senses asserted, to him God, good was always the reality. Through the illumination the Christ Science brings to the Master's words and healing works, we too can develop this sublime sense of inseparability from our Father God.
A child who trusts his parents doesn't merely theorize about their abililty to care for him. He knows it beyond a doubt, feels it to the depths of his being. And so it must be with us in our relationship to our heavenly Father. To cerebrally admit God to be all isn't enough. We need to know He is--that is, to understand God's supreme, unopposable, continuous government of all His cherished ideas. And to prove it in demonstration. A childlike, unquestioning confidence in God's care makes it realizable.
Matter can't talk or lay out conditions for us. It claims to possess power coequal with God snd to interfere with His government of us. But of course, it doesn't and it can't. Moreover, our Father is never telling us we're wretched, weak, sick mortals in a hopeless situation!l Thoughts from the one Mind, the Mind man uninterruptedly reflects, reveal only the inexhaustible good that is continually ours as Mind's beloved manifestation. These comforting healing, redeeming ideas--whatever thoughts we need to be free--are pouring forth perpetually. Our role is listening with humble, trusting receptivity to Truth. The more consistently we maintain this holiest of consciousness, the greater our conviction that God is all-powerful and ever present.
Jesus' unparalleled demonstrations show how unimpressed he was by what the physical senses were presenting, from a withered hand to violent waves. Matthew records Jesus' healing of the lunatick boy after his disciples had failed to get results. Explaining this, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy writes: "When his disciples asked him why they could not heal that case, Jesus, the Master Metaphysician, answered: 'Because of your unbelief (lack of faith), and then continued: 'If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove' Also he added, 'This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting' (refraining from admitting the claims of the senses)." (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 222)
We turn the corner in our development of this spiritual sureness when we see imperfection for what it really is--nothing more than a false mental image, without substance or reality. No matter what material thinking suggests is wrong with us, false beliefs are powerless before the reality of omnipresent Truth. Our freedom lies in holding fast to Truth, in turning from the symptoms fear may be parading before us.
Nothing can compare to that feeling of "God with us", to the abiding conviction that our loving Father is holding us unchanged in our spiritual perfection. To reiterate, Christian Science makes this possible for everyone of us.
We learn through its teachings that God is sovereign, supreme, the creator of all. He is our loving Father who never fails us. If we seem not to be experiencing His help, we've become overly impressed by false beliefs, illusions--a situation always correctable through understanding divine truths.
Our rationale for disbelieving disease, inharmony, or defects is God's eternal unchangeableness. Man, like the Mind that formed him, remains perfect. Man never fluctuates between wholeness and impairment, never drops down into a material, imperfect state of being. In truth, we remain the way our creator made us. When God finished His work, the Bible says, He pronounced it very good It is simply the material view of things that a is incorrect, a belief that something is part of man which Mind neither put there nor sees. For in Mind, God, good, where each of us has his true uninvadvable being, there is no sickness, no pain, lack, or fear to mesmerize us.
Reading the New Testament, one is struck by the sense of unity that Jesus felt with the Father. No matter what the mortal senses asserted, to him God, good was always the reality. Through the illumination the Christ Science brings to the Master's words and healing works, we too can develop this sublime sense of inseparability from our Father God.
A child who trusts his parents doesn't merely theorize about their abililty to care for him. He knows it beyond a doubt, feels it to the depths of his being. And so it must be with us in our relationship to our heavenly Father. To cerebrally admit God to be all isn't enough. We need to know He is--that is, to understand God's supreme, unopposable, continuous government of all His cherished ideas. And to prove it in demonstration. A childlike, unquestioning confidence in God's care makes it realizable.
Matter can't talk or lay out conditions for us. It claims to possess power coequal with God snd to interfere with His government of us. But of course, it doesn't and it can't. Moreover, our Father is never telling us we're wretched, weak, sick mortals in a hopeless situation!l Thoughts from the one Mind, the Mind man uninterruptedly reflects, reveal only the inexhaustible good that is continually ours as Mind's beloved manifestation. These comforting healing, redeeming ideas--whatever thoughts we need to be free--are pouring forth perpetually. Our role is listening with humble, trusting receptivity to Truth. The more consistently we maintain this holiest of consciousness, the greater our conviction that God is all-powerful and ever present.
Jesus' unparalleled demonstrations show how unimpressed he was by what the physical senses were presenting, from a withered hand to violent waves. Matthew records Jesus' healing of the lunatick boy after his disciples had failed to get results. Explaining this, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy writes: "When his disciples asked him why they could not heal that case, Jesus, the Master Metaphysician, answered: 'Because of your unbelief (lack of faith), and then continued: 'If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove' Also he added, 'This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting' (refraining from admitting the claims of the senses)." (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 222)
We turn the corner in our development of this spiritual sureness when we see imperfection for what it really is--nothing more than a false mental image, without substance or reality. No matter what material thinking suggests is wrong with us, false beliefs are powerless before the reality of omnipresent Truth. Our freedom lies in holding fast to Truth, in turning from the symptoms fear may be parading before us.
Nothing can compare to that feeling of "God with us", to the abiding conviction that our loving Father is holding us unchanged in our spiritual perfection. To reiterate, Christian Science makes this possible for everyone of us.
Friday, March 1, 2019
Angels on a Clock
Two atop
gilded antique clock --
Standing by the door
for all to see.
Do hotel guests
look that way?
One angel with
artist's brush in hand,
the other with a pen,
smiling, ageless, immortal,
happy in what they do.
Does this speak
to me and you?
Is this what we aspire to?
What we really are?
What we've always been?
The way God sees us now?
Whether artwork, manuscript,
or something else,
Bestow what comes from Him above
is what these Beings do.
gilded antique clock --
Standing by the door
for all to see.
Do hotel guests
look that way?
One angel with
artist's brush in hand,
the other with a pen,
smiling, ageless, immortal,
happy in what they do.
Does this speak
to me and you?
Is this what we aspire to?
What we really are?
What we've always been?
The way God sees us now?
Whether artwork, manuscript,
or something else,
Bestow what comes from Him above
is what these Beings do.
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