Tell the Truth

I cannot be ignorant of what I should be doing because I am the reflection of Mind. God is all action and I am about my Father’s business. I am acting as His expression in all I do. I can never be separate from His guidance for I do not have a separate state of being.

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being.” Acts 17:28 (KJV)

As God unfolds my life, I am walking in that unfoldment. This unfoldment of good is my life. This is living the Life of God as my own.

SH 502:28-503:3
The universe reflects God. There is but one creator and one creation. This creation consists of the unfolding of spiritual ideas and their identities, which are embraced in the infinite Mind and forever reflected.

I have the gifts, the qualities of God and I creatively use them as His reflection. I am always in the right place to use them as I am called to His purpose and plan. I bring God’s expression with me to wherever I am employed and active.

I am never separate from God and I always obey the divine Principle, Life and Love even as I am always obeying the law of gravity. My life and consciousness is found in my being God’s reflection—never in an illusory and separate personal existence apart from Him—the Father and Life of all.

91:5-7
Let us rid ourselves of the belief that man is separated from God, and obey only the divine Principle, Life and Love.

SH 91:5-7
Let us rid ourselves of the belief that man is separated from God, and obey only the divine Principle, Life and Love.

Here we see that the belief that we are separate from God prevents us from being obedient to divine Principle. Where is obedience expressed? First of all, in our thinking and only then in our outer expression. So let us then look to the standpoint of our thought as being the deciding factor in our experience of living.

If we believe we are separated from God, how do we think? Humanly, in a limited way—we limit ourselves by our culture, upbringing, education, gender, age, etc. We only have our own intelligence, talent and material resources to draw upon to face any situation or condition before us.

When we see ourselves as one with our Father-Mother God, we see ourselves as expressions of the infinite—as spiritual and perfect. Created in the image and likeness of God, we have access to the light and intelligence of the one Mind. Our life is divine and immortal, our own qualities are those of God, our resources are the resources of the All-in-all, our talents are those needed by any situation we are in, and our condition is under the authority of God, and we are about our Father’s business as we exercise dominion in our lives.

SH 322:3
When understanding changes the standpoints of life and intelligence from a material to a spiritual basis, we shall gain the reality of Life, the control of Soul over sense, and we shall perceive Christianity, or Truth, in its divine Principle. This must be the climax before harmonious and immortal man is obtained and his capabilities revealed. It is highly important — in view of the immense work to be accomplished before this recognition of divine Science can come — to turn our thoughts towards divine Principle, that finite belief may be prepared to relinquish its error.

SH 476:29-477:5 Jesus
Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you;" that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God’s image is unfallen and eternal. Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God’s own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy.

To understand the real man and the counterfeit as Jesus did, using the analogy of mathematics, we see that Jesus saw the mathematical principle where others saw only numbers. He knew that numbers have reality and meaning only as the expression of the mathematical principle, thus he was able to understand their organization and relationship and to apply their proper operations. To the human mind, the world and its people is chaotic, unruly and disorderly; sin, sickness and death are the norm. In the light of Science, however, this material picture is not the reality, but an expresses a lack of spiritual understanding. The disorder and chaos, the evil of man’s experience is merely a dream—as though it were a view of numbers seen without a grasp of the principle which rightly governs them. Once the principle is understood, our vision clears, and we see the proper order of the numbers; and the chaos we had previously imagined is shown to be only a misunderstanding, a dream.

Matt. 27:19 I (to dream)
I have suffered many things this day in a dream

Ps. 36:9
For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

282:11
Eternal Mind and temporary material existence never unite in figure or in fact.

151:26-27 (to ,)
All that really exists is the divine Mind and its idea,

392:22
Your decisions will master you, whichever direction they take.

When we think about ourselves—when we are asked, “How are you doing?” Into what category does our answer fall? Into the kingdom of the eternal Mind and it’s idea, or into the realm of temporary material existence?

This week’s topic in the Christian Science Bible lesson is Man. Today I’m working on Section VI and on these affirmations taken from Science and Health:

• The mortal picture of wo/man is not the real essence
• Unreal material mortality disappears in the presence of reality
• I know no other reality — have no other consciousness of life — than good, God and His reflection
• I rise superior to the so-called pain and pleasure of the senses
• I no longer see myself or others with the material senses
• I no longer measure myself of others by material sense
• ______ is upright — s/he has not fallen
• ______ is Godlike — s/heis not mortal and corrupt
• The beliefs of material existence are a bald imposition
• Sin, disease, and death must give everlasting place to demonstration and to God’s spiritual, perfect man

520:3-5
The depth, breadth, height, might, majesty, and glory of infinite Love fill all space. That is enough! 

It is a saving Principle that we look to, to save us—not a person. Just as the principle of mathematics, when followed, brings a correct result, so will the principle of metaphysics—reliably, consistently, always. That principle is Love. It is always healing, always correcting, always renewing. It is always establishing and unfolding good. We can count on it to meet our every need.

Love is free of personal sense. It neither has a personal, selfish point of view, nor does it identify a personal problem with God’s children.

Love never brings us discouragement and expression, but leads us through the door of Truth into It’s arms. Love is our true Mother—tending, cherishing, protecting and loving us. Love holds nothing back from us—It is not withholding healing or comfort from us. It is not withholding hope and encouragement. It is not withholding faith and understanding. Love is setting our table and that table is full. Love is filling our cup and that cup is running over.

Divine Love continually supplies us with all good—with beautiful images of thought, encouraging and uplifting feelings, the perfect idea of all things. Love promises that our every human need will be met. Love is always giving us everything we need to bring us closer to God, closer to our healing, closer to our good.

9 Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Matt 6:9-13 (KJV)

We are children of God, the offspring of harmony, the reflection of infinite being—of that Mind which is perfect in goodness and right-ness and worthy of our complete devotion.

The kingdom, the world of harmony is present now. It is here, for God Himself is ever-present, and our God is omnipotent and supreme now, on this earth, and not just in a future heaven.

Our Father gives us spiritual meat, and feeds our hearts hunger for right-ness.

Let us reflect Your Love, and may we reveal to others the activity and reality of Your kingdom and omnipotence at work in our lives just as Jesus revealed You to us.

You never cause us to believe or accept the material picture, but if we would, You deliver us from the temptation to fall into sin (wrong thinking and behavior), to believe in disease (the imperfection of Your kingdom) or to accept death (that Your image and likeness can be less than immortal).

You are infinite, Father. To You belongs all power and your kingdom is without end in space or time.

SH 13:20

If we pray to God as a corporeal person, this will prevent us from relinquishing the human doubts and fears which attend such a belief, and so we cannot grasp the wonders wrought by infinite, incorporeal Love, to whom all things are possible. Because of human ignorance of the divine Principle, Love, the Father of all is represented as a corporeal creator; hence men recognize themselves as merely physical, and are ignorant of man as God’s image or reflection and of man’s eternal incorporeal existence. The world of error is ignorant of the world of Truth, — blind to the reality of man’s existence, — for the world of sensation is not cognizant of life in Soul, not in body.

God is not a divine person creating other persons. If you see God as a person, you inevitably miss seeing the wonders of God as Principle. The God of infinite, incorporeal Love is not in the business of creating forms (sorry, Ernest Holmes!)—He is not creating physical beings. Man is God’s image and reflection and man’s existence is not a life lived in a body, but the life of Soul, eternal and incorporeal.

25:16-17
Jesus presented the ideal of God better than could any man whose origin was less spiritual.

How Mary must have talked with Jesus as a boy about her angelic visitation—how the Spirit of the Lord overshadowed her and how he was spiritual conceived! How this would have shaped his thought and understanding! He had a personal knowledge of his Father God because he never had the belief to overcome that Joseph was ever his father. For our part, we have to affirm God as our Father in the face of our material belief, but Jesus did not have the material picture to contend with. “Our Father” was his heart-felt statement of reality and his precious gift to us.

I’ve been working with this week’s lesson on the topic of Mind. Here are some of my thoughts on the Golden Text and the Responsive Reading:

Golden Text

Philippians 2:5

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

This lesson is not just about our reading about Mind, but in our getting into the divine Mind—taking it on for ourselves.

Responsive Reading

Psalms 18:28 my God, 32; 139:2, 12(to : ), 14, 16-18 in, 23, 24 and lead

my God will enlighten my darkness.

God is bringing us into the light—that is, He is enlightening us, increasing our understanding, showing us what we need to know, and giving us vision where there was none before. Love is continually blessing us, bringing us more and more good, eternally loving us.

It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.

God gives me strength, surrounds me, encircles me, equips and provides for me. He makes my way perfect, makes the way forward clear, fast, open, filled with opportunity. He makes clear to me the steps I need to take, and makes the way forward available to me. I recognize God’s hand in my life. It is He that makes the difference, that strengthens me, that makes my life go well.

Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

God knows when I sit back and when I plow ahead. He understands how I am thinking and why I do the things I do.

Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day:

Material light and darkness is irrelevant to spiritual sight. With spiritual light, I can see no matter what my eyes are showing me. I’m not dependent on material light or physical eyes. I see with the eyes of Spirit.

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

I am an awesome and wonderful creation, made in His image and likeness, and I know it!

in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

God created every little bit of me before I was formed. I am not a material creation. I am a thing of Mind. God’s thought of me is all that I am. My character and being were not decided by a material history, an earthly Mother and Father, where and when I was born, my education, my relationships or my career. My nature was decided and fashioned before I ever was given form.

God’s thoughts of me are more in number than the sand. God has countless ways and measureless potential to unfold within me. It shows me just how wrong I am if I see my horizons shrinking as I grow older! God has barely started with me!

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

and lead me in the way everlasting.

God, look at my feelings, look at how I’m thinking, see how I’m doing and lead me down the spiritual road.