Live clarity, discernment and trust in Truth today!

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LIVE CLARITY, DISCERNMENT AND TRUST IN TRUTH TODAY!
Metaphysical Application Ideas for the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on

“Truth”
for January 23, 2022

by John & Lindsey Biggs, C.S. of Maryland Heights, MO
541 418 1176 johnbiggscs@gmail.com
541 460 3515 biggs.lindsey@gmail.com

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 INTRODUCTION

Science and law are one. So, the law of God is the truth and Truth is the law of God. What qualities does this give us? Qualities of science and qualities of Truth are similar: Certainty, understanding, strength, confidence, dependability, courage, conviction, precision, trust, immutability, constancy, consistency, integrity, etc. These are excellent qualities to incorporate and are certainly qualities that we want in our prayers, our understanding of God, and our demonstration of Truth. Consider highlighting these qualities as you read through this week’s lesson. These qualities come directly from Truth, God. They can be reflected and drawn upon at any moment.

Check out this Seven Synonym poster download. It is a great tool to explore these synonyms more deeply and think about the qualities of each of these synonyms in this series of Bible Lessons and how we can express them. This is one way to help them come alive to us and see how they can infuse every aspect of our day.

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GOLDEN TEXT

“Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part [of my heart] You will make me know wisdom…” (Psalms 51:6 Amplified Bible)

God desires Truth! How could God desire anything else? God is Truth. God wants us to know the Truth. “….And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)

This shows us that God’s will for us is freedom! “God’s being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss.” (Science and Health, p. 481:3–4)
This is where we live, move and have our being. And since we are the reflection of God we reflect this infinity, freedom, harmony and boundless bliss. How about infinite understanding? Yes, each of God’s spiritual ideas possesses and reflects infinite understanding. How about boundless bliss? Yes, each of God’s spiritual ideas reflects and expresses boundless bliss! That means light, joy, freedom! Something we can all agree to wanting to have!

God is making us to know wisdom. God causes us to know wisdom! And we respond to that cause as we awaken to the spiritual understanding of being, of what is real and true. God causes us to know wisdom and we respond – everything in our being – responds to the Truth. Since we are spiritual, we respond to Spirit (like producing like). The effect is harmony, health, joy, movement, and holiness.

God is the Cause and the effect is wisdom, true knowledge, understanding – and, yes, freedom!
Truth is knowing itself – knowing its own infinitude!

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RESPONSIVE READING – EXPRESS YOUR TRUST IN GOD

This Responsive Reading is a forthright and resolute statement of commitment and acknowledgment. Commitment to reliance on and trust in God, and acknowledgment of God’s nature as ever-present and completely trustworthy. We are not blindly placing our lives and hopes in God’s hands; we are admitting that God IS Life. It follows that Life’s expression would never be removed FROM that Source, that Life. As the psalmist indicates in these verses included in the Responsive Reading, it’s good to acknowledge and give gratitude for the ways we have seen God’s saving power and His love. We don’t want to ‘hide His righteousness’ but rather to let it shine out! God loves us so much; it makes sense that we would reflect that love in consistent adoration for Him. How to express this love? One great way is to be consistent with our trust in God. We trust the ones we love. This lesson provides some wonderful examples and insights into how we can live our trust in God!

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SECTION 1 – THERE IS ONLY LIGHT AND STRENGTH IN GOD

“thou art the God of my strength:” (citation B1/Psalm 43:2) God gives us strength! Strength is a mental quality that comes from God. It infuses our day with courage, delight, forthrightness, gratitude, peace, and poise. It gives us that “equanimity [that is] so settled” (Misc. Writings, p. 224) that nothing can disturb it or ruffle it. It is expressed in physical, mental, and spiritual strength; a never-disturbed dominion that gives us power and strength. Strength can also describe that Rock that is God. This Rock is not slippery! It is stable and secure.

Spirit light (inspiration, understanding) leads us! If it’s not light or Truth then it can’t lead us and we don’t want to follow it! “O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me…” (cit. B1/Psalm 43:3) We want ONLY Light and Truth to lead us – this destroys the mist and lets us see, hear, and feel Truth clearly! This gives us spiritual clarity. It’s hard to see anything in the mist. Truth is like sunlight which evaporates the mist and gives us clear inspired views.

“‘Let there be light,’ is the perpetual demand of Truth…” (cit. S3/p. 255) What does this show us? That Truth wants to be known. Light means revelation, understanding, awakening, enlightenment. Light reveals the spiritual forms of divine beauty and goodness; it reveals our soul as in Spirit; it reveals the Christ-idea as the identity of each of us; it gives us our value and worth. It is so important and essential. No one can walk around in the dark! We are children of light governed by a consciousness of light. So, this “perpetual demand” is enforcing itself. It’s enabling us to see “as in heaven, so on earth” (SH 17:2) the perpetual rule and law of harmony. It helps us to see (perceive and understand) the “Kingdom of Heaven” on earth – the actual “… reign of harmony” in which “… Soul is supreme” (see the Glossary of Science and Health, 590:1). So light – spiritual understanding – is the result of Truth. Truth enforces itself. It’s the perpetual demand that we can all fulfill!

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SECTION 2 – GET STILL AND LISTEN TO GOD, TRUTH’S MESSAGES

“The Jewish concept of truth (here translated from the Hebrew ’emet’) includes stability, certainty, and trustworthiness. It communicates both the truth of God, as in this passage, and the truth of men.” (“Bible Lens”, Christian Science Sentinel) (cit. B3/Psalm 85:11-13)

“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” (cit. B5/Psalm 46:10)

Stillness is such an important quality of God. It is the essence of prayer and our communion with God. It means to get quiet and to listen – really hear – God’s message. Mary Baker Eddy describes it this way, “In the quiet sanctuary of earnest longings, we must deny sin and plead God’s allness.” (Science and Health, 15:16–18)

Most of us have a lot of clamoring going on in our heads day to day between all the things we have to do, etc. According to some sources, humans think 70,000 thoughts per day! That’s a lot of thinking. But really knowing is what we want and that’s where getting still and listening to God helps. We allow God to communicate what God is hearing and knowing, and this silences human will and its clamoring for attention.
“Spirit, God, is heard when the senses are silent.” (Science and Health, 89:20–21) When the senses are silent, the dream of whatever may be going on is broken, letting us get calm and feel the conviction that comes from truly understanding God, which leads to demonstration – actually experiencing God’s love. Experiencing such “blessedness” for ourselves allows us to “… recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love.” (Science and Health, 264:26)

It was reported that Dr. Albert Einstein once said, “I want to know God’s thoughts – the rest are mere details.”

You may enjoy John’s recent podcast on the healing power of stillness and a healing of an ankle injury that he had as a result. “The stillness that makes all the difference“

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SECTION 3 – FOLLOW THROUGH ON YOUR TRUST IN GOD

 If we really trust God, then we should follow through on what that means. If you trust someone, you speak to them frankly and you move forward without double-checking. And then, you make good on how you said you would act. Hannah expressed this trust – her love – for God, and this is a wonderful model for us as well.

Several years ago, I was serving as a Christian Science practitioner for one of the summer camps. The campers, counselors and I were all participating in a big day of team-building, and I was paired with a counselor who was already a good friend of mine. The next activity was a ‘trust walk,’ which in this case meant that one of us was blindfolded and the other one had to guide the blindfolded one. There are many ways to play this activity – you can have a rule of no touching the blindfolded one and only guiding with your voice, or no voice and only holding hands, or whatever the group lead decides.
In this case, my friend was guiding me by only using his voice. Now, I really don’t like trust walks! I don’t know why, I just have always felt very uncomfortable with the whole experience. And on this day, trying to walk around the yard and a cabin, I felt so nervous. But as we walked, a healing angel message came directly to me: “John, you love this friend. You know this friend will not hurt you. You can act in a way that faithfully expresses your love and trust in this friend.” I agreed with this angel message – I did love this friend and was so glad to be spending this camp session with him – and I realized that one way I could express my trust in him, would be to confidently follow wherever he was guiding me.
My pace picked up to a normal walking speed (I had been inching along before because I was afraid) and he remarked afterward, while we were debriefing, how much of a difference he noticed in me and was really happy to hear that little story and the angel message I received. Ever since then, I’ve loved considering: if I love and trust _____ (this person, God…), am I acting and thinking in a way that faithfully indicates that love?

As we walk and think in ways that faithfully indicate our love for God and our trust in His nature and presence, we’ll keep seeing more and more how He loves us.

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SECTION 4 – FOLLOWING GOD’S GUIDANCE

 “O Lord, who may lodge [as a guest] in Your tent? Who may dwell [continually] on Your holy hill? He who walks with integrity and strength of character, and works righteousness, And speaks and holds truth in his heart.” (cit. B11/Psalm 15:1,2 Amplified Bible)

We all want to hear God’s direction when making an important decision. This passage from Science and Health assures us that our desire to heed right motives and follow God’s direction will result in the fruition that we need.

“When we wait patiently on God and seek Truth righteously, He directs our path.” (cit. S14/254:10)

Right motives allow our thought to soar and they result in speech and action that have strength and freedom – such as blessing our churches, a particular individual, or our prayers for humanity. These are right motives that allow our thought to soar!

“Right motives give pinions [wings] to thought, and strength and freedom to speech and action.”  (Science and Health, 454:19–21)

Hymn 553 illustrates a similar point:
“Our desire to heed God’s calling / Lifts us to a new design, / Outlined by pure inspiration, / Rendered in Love’s graceful line.

“When our own plans seem to crumble / Incomplete or ill-defined, / Let us turn to God’s creation, / Always perfectly aligned.

“With the model right before us, / Perfect God and perfect man, / Let God’s wholeness reign within us, / Let Mind’s will perfect our plan.

“Far beyond the bounds of matter, / Unrestrained by fear or time, / All our plans unfold together / In Soul’s harmony and rhyme.”

(Christian Science Hymnal, No.  553:1–4)

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SECTION 5 – TRUTH IS TRUE FOR ALL

The Bible story related in citation 15 is a hard one to make sense of. If we just approach it as a singular event without any context or reference, it’s easy to think that Jesus was being sort of mean! And it’s true that there are many different ways to read our Bible and on different days, something new may seem fresh and healing to us. One way of reading this story that has really helped me comes from the book “Stories of Healing” sold in the Christian Science Reading Room.

I learned that instead of Jesus’ comments about only being sent to the Jews, or about children’s bread and dogs, being rude and mean toward the woman, “he said out loud what his disciples might have been thinking.” (Stories of Healing, p. 97) It’s clear from the narrative that they didn’t think much of this woman and her daughter. But we know from Jesus’ ministry throughout the Gospels that he was willing to help anyone who came to him! So, it doesn’t make sense that in this case he was being mean.

Jesus was pointing out the error or erroneous thought of exclusion that the disciples were expressing…and the woman, with great faithfulness, responded in a way that showed her meekness and willingness to engage with the healing Christ. Jesus must have been so happy to hear her immediate response and to see how she wouldn’t back down in the face of the exclusive behavior shown by the disciples. Jesus knew God’s love is for everyone, and he must have been really glad to show his students this even more clearly.

In our lives, are we ever tempted to think that someone might not deserve healing? Or, that they will see healing only if they act a certain way? If we ever feel like that, it’s good to actively recognize that thought as a temptation to believe that God’s family and rule is broken – that some could be left out of God’s care.

It’s not our job to decide who does and who doesn’t deserve and get love and rejuvenation and transformation. We certainly can’t do others’ work for them, but we CAN learn to behave and think in ways that are approachable and welcoming to all – as James put it in his letter, to honor “the wisdom that is from above [which] is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” (James 3:17) This is honoring the fact that Truth is true for all, not just for some.

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SECTION 6 – SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITUAL GOOD

“Tribute money posed a dilemma for Jews. Under Hebrew code, they were to avoid images (see Exodus 20:4; Leviticus 26:1; Deuteronomy 4:15–19, 23). But the coins required for paying taxes carried Caesar’s likeness. Jesus astutely sidesteps the Pharisees’ efforts to entrap him, while implying that mere coins have no value compared to the things of God. A Bible authority interprets Jesus’ meaning this way: “. . . it is possible to be a true citizen of the kingdom and yet quietly submit to the civil rule of a foreign potentate.’” (“Bible Lens Research”, Christian Science Sentinel)

I love this Bible story because it’s so practical! As Christians we love to keep our focus on Spirit and on Christ and living the gospel – and yet we still need to pay our taxes, bills, etc. This account assures us that we can still practically have our daily needs met and keep our thought focused on Spirit.

Mary Baker Eddy writes, “From this it follows that business men and cultured scholars have found that Christian Science enhances their endurance and mental powers, enlarges their perception of character, gives them acuteness and comprehensiveness and an ability to exceed their ordinary capacity.”  (Science and Health, p. 128:6–11)

This is what Jesus was expressing – spiritual discernment; the ability to perceive the hearts and motives of those around him. What a great quality for people to have! The Bible tells us: “… for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” (I Samuel 16:7) So, it’s natural that we reflect that ability, too.

Each of us has the spiritual discernment we need, too. Science and Health tells us that it is our “spiritual sense” that gives us the discernment of spiritual good. It enables us to perceive the goodness in ourselves and in others. It is the intuition that we need to discern which motives we want to follow and saves us from making unfruitful transactions. We reflect the capacity to listen to divine Mind’s discernment to direct us in all of our interactions with others.

You might enjoy this beautiful article “Loaves, fishes, and…cherry tomatoes” about the power of discerning and trusting in divine Love’s supply when there appeared to be none.

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SECTION 7 – TRUTH INCLUDES EVERYTHING WE NEED

 No separate temple, no separate sun…everything that’s needed is already included in the very fabric of this “New Jerusalem.” When we’re trusting in Truth, engaging with Truth, we’re not paging customer service and hoping some angel will come along eventually and help us a bit. When we’re abiding in a state of active, loving trust in the nature and presence of Truth, we’re admitting that all we need is right here. Expression is not deprived of one aspect of Expresser; effect partakes entirely of Cause.

This idea of abiding entirely within the Allness of God’s presence reminds me that prayer is not some onerous task, or something we need to check off our agenda for the day, or a way to get what we want. Mary Baker Eddy gives this beautiful description of what prayer really is:

“True prayer is not asking God for love; it is learning to love, and to include all mankind in one affection. Prayer is the utilization of the love wherewith He loves us. Prayer begets an awakened desire to be and do good. It makes new and scientific discoveries of God, of His goodness and power. It shows us more clearly than we saw before, what we already have and are; and most of all, it shows us what God is. Advancing in this light, we reflect it; and this light reveals the pure Mind-pictures, in silent prayer, even as photography grasps the solar light to portray the face of pleasant thought.” (No and Yes, 39:17)

Prayer is living love. How natural, then, that abiding in New Jerusalem – spiritually defined in the Glossary as “Divine Science; the spiritual facts and harmony of the universe; the kingdom of heaven, or reign of harmony.” (Science and Health, 592:18) would lead to a life of lived love. Indeed, the closing citation in this Lesson, S32, states that this Truth, this perfect fact of being, IS here! And we just need to live it.

Take special note this week of every opportunity to really live the trust you have in God. Avail yourself of the presence of Truth. When you feel confused, scared, hurt, don’t just try and talk yourself out of it; lean on that which you trust, the divinity of Truth which is reliable, healing, and whole. Live the truth. The truth is that you’re free! How wonderful it is, to know that divine Truth never lost you, and always knows and defines everything about you. You are very loved, and that’s the truth!

Enjoy taking advantage of every opportunity this week to live that love for yourself, and to show others this wonderful truth as well.

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CLICK HERE for more application ideas & Bible-based GEMs from Cobbey Crisler & others! [This is partial completed and should be emailed soon.]

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Ken Cooper’s insightful POETIC PRELUDE” brings to life
Bible EXAMPLES of the Science of Christ & its power to bless YOU & all mankind!

• • Ken’s YouTube poem “Truth has no conditions, so prove, so practice” makes the point that “conditions” are a trap, – don’t let them in for a moment!
  • Ken’s 2^nd  YouTube second poem “God Is Our Freedom”  focuses on the promise made by Jesus “… ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

PDF copies are available under Downloads in the online version of  this Met.

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