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Discover the spiritual reality of God’s goodness right at hand!
Metaphysical Application Ideas for the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“Reality”
March 20–26, 2023
by John & Lindsey Biggs, C.S. of Maryland Heights, MO
541 418 1176 johnbiggscs@gmail.com
541 460 3515 biggs.lindsey@gmail.com
INTRODUCTION
This week’s Lesson includes many great ideas on the salvation that comes through an understanding of God. Christ Jesus is the best example of someone who looked deep into spiritual reality instead of accepting the surface, material sense of things. Because of this, he brought healing and freedom to people’s lives right in the midst of whatever struggles they faced. Enjoy exploring these beautiful ideas contained in this week’s Bible Lesson!
GOLDEN TEXT
“Behold, God is my salvation; . . Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” (Isaiah 12:2, 3)
Salvation is defined as:
“SALVATION. Life, Truth, and Love understood and demonstrated as supreme over all; sin, sickness, and death destroyed.” (Science and Health, p. 593:20)
RESPONSIVE READING
The Responsive Reading continues with beautiful imagery in these passages from Isaiah, which could be described as the effects of salvation. The effects of Life, Truth, and Love demonstrated as supreme over all.
The desert blossoming as a rose; Waters breaking out in the wilderness; Streams flowing in the desert.
These metaphors describe a new sense of life. Sorrow and sighing fleeing away. Joy and gladness returning. These were promises to the Israelites about returning home after the Babylonian exile. What areas of the world could we apply these truths to today?
We know, through Christ Jesus’ ministry, that God’s will is salvation, abundance of living water, joy, and goodness for His creation. His promises will be fulfilled. Let’s pray to know that Christ can reign supreme in hearts and minds, ushering in a full salvation – a full sense of harmony –- for all God’s people today!
SECTION 1 – GOD’S THOUGHTS ARE VERY DEEP
“O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.” (citation B1, Psalm 92:5)
God’s thoughts are very deep. They are substance; they are Truth. That is why they are so satisfying – because they connect us with eternal reality — with our spiritual, eternal nature. They are satisfying because they show us who we really are and our relationship to God, good — who is the Source of our goodness.
“No wisdom is wise but His wisdom; no truth is true, no love is lovely, no life is Life but the divine; no good is, but the good God bestows.” (Science and Health, p. 275)
This shows us that God’s thoughts have supreme authority. When we listen to them, we experience our true selfhood and we gain salvation.
God’s thoughts are so deep, that Solomon recognized that he needed to ask for knowledge and understanding from God when he was anointed king. As we know, this request was granted, and we have many wonderful Proverbs as a result, and even the Queen of Sheba traveled great distances to hear the wisdom that God gave him.
We each can possess the spiritual discernment we need to perceive the Word of God. The Spirit reveals it to us. We can each receive this discernment needed through looking to God as the Source of all true knowledge and understanding.
Mary Baker Eddy gives us some steps as to how to do this:
“We must look deep into realism instead of accepting only the outward sense of things.” (citation S1, SH p. 129:22–24)
We are assured that this is what Jesus did, also. He couldn’t have fed the multitudes if he had relied on the outward sense of things. Instead, he looked deep into the spiritual reality to discern the ever-present goodness of God that was right at hand. Rejecting is the opposite of accepting, so we could say that Jesus rejected the material sense of things and accepted the spiritual sense of things – the reality that God’s creation is spiritual and perfect, and he brought that out in his healing ministry.
“To grasp the reality and order of being in its Science, you must begin by reckoning God as the divine Principle of all that really is.” (cit. S3, 275:10–12)
This is another great step. When we pray, we must begin by reckoning God as the Principle — the Source and Origin of existence – of all that really is. Then, because we reason from this perfect Cause, we can reason correctly. We are not reasoning from a limited sense of things, but we are basing our consciousness on a spiritual premise and thereby finding the satisfaction of bringing out those correct results in our experience.
We can reason that all must be as perfect as the Creator is perfect. When we demonstrate that “nothing possesses reality nor existence except the divine Mind and His ideas” because God is all-in-all, then we experience the harmony of salvation (cit. S4, p. 331).
Consider praying with and exploring deeply each word in this definition of reality:
“Reality is spiritual, harmonious, immutable, immortal, divine, eternal.” (cit. S5, 335 )
SECTION 2 – SPIRITUAL SENSE VS. MATERIAL SENSE
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” (cit. B8, I Corinthians 2:11–14)
The Spirit reveals all the goodness that God has given to us. All the joy, peace, harmony that we need are ever-present and ready to be discerned. It is spiritual sense that enables us to perceive them. The Holy Spirit reveals our rights as citizens of the Kingdom – to live as free sons and daughters of God.
The spiritual is the real, eternal, harmonious and self-existent. The spiritual is what makes us harmonious and happy in our present state of existence. It’s the substance and essence of our being. So by identifying ourselves spiritually, we can bring more of these spiritual qualities into our daily lives!
“Spiritual sense, contradicting the material senses, involves intuition, hope, faith, understanding, fruition, reality.” (cit. S9, 298)
Spiritual sense enables us to correct the material senses. It involves this ascending list of beautiful attributes listed above; first a spiritual intuition that tells us there must be something bigger and better than matter; then intuition leads us to hope; hope grows to faith as we gain clearer, spiritual views; faith becomes spiritual understanding as we discern more of reality; lastly, our prayers are manifested in fruition – healing, accomplishment – the demonstration of spiritual reality.
“The human capacities are enlarged and perfected in proportion as humanity gains the true conception of man and God.” (cit. S8, 258)
I love the above passage because it shows us what the knowledge of God gives us now.
It shows how much we can achieve right here through an understanding of God. That we can experience more grace, intelligence, abundance, etc. as we gain that true concept of reality.
Enjoy this article about a woman who wasn’t so sure about her abilities in the business field. When given a larger opportunity, she reached out to God. She gained a truer concept of her relationship with God, and as a result was able to shine the talents and light of her true selfhood clearly. Confidence gained through understanding God
Through spiritual sense, we gain the true concept of God and who we are as the image and likeness of God. This allows us to reach our full potential and throw off material, limiting beliefs.
SECTION 3 – THERE IS ENOUGH
“For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” (Genesis 26:22, cit. B10) This entirely God-centric faith and description of status is very inspiring to me! The whole story of Isaac, his community, and the trouble they kept running into is a really fascinating example of insistence on keeping God first. Instead of forcing their own way, arguing with the king who threw them out and the rival herdsmen who took their wells, Isaac knew there truly was enough for everyone. The consistent theme of water running through this whole Bible Lesson, and its symbolism for God’s Word, provision, life, finds beautiful action in this section because Isaac refuses to try to fight over the gift of water. He knows there must be enough, for God has placed his community, as He has placed all His children, and that placement must include provision and capacity.
This is an important subject for us to bring a prayerful eye to today; the World Wildlife Fund and other environmental and humanitarian organizations estimate that by 2025, two thirds of the world’s population may face water shortages. But this claim, or prophecy, is not legitimate simply by virtue of having been said. A claim of shortage is no different than any other claim of discord. And just because someone or something makes or feels a claim, does not mean that claim has any right. Mary Baker Eddy illustrates:
“To say there is a false claim, called sickness, is to admit all there is of sickness; for it is nothing but a false claim. To be healed, one must lose sight of a false claim. If the claim be present to the thought, then disease becomes as tangible as any reality. To regard sickness as a false claim, is to abate the fear of it; but this does not destroy the so-called fact of the claim. In order to be whole, we must be insensible to every claim of error.”
(Unity of Good, p. 54:3)
Whether it is a water rights claim, a claim of disruption, or a claim of sickness, we are never obligated to accept the legitimacy of a claim just because it is presented to us. In a very small way, even though it felt big at the time, I discovered the joy of this God-centric approach. Years ago, I had just moved back to St Louis and I had based my budget for the month, including a down payment and first month’s rent, around a paycheck from my previous job. I hadn’t kept good track of my spending though, and didn’t realize I had already spent that money on fuel, food, and car payment.
The time was coming for next month’s rent, and I was very frightened to realize that I wasn’t going to have the money. I spent a good portion of the day being frantic and accomplishing nothing of value, and I finally realized that maybe this was something I could pray about. Pretty quickly, I got a very simple idea, to just actually check my bank account. This annoyed me, since I knew I wouldn’t have enough for next month, and refused to check it. Finally though, after repeatedly feeling this message, I opened up my account and was surprised to see that although I did not have what anyone would consider a lot of money, I did in fact have the exact amount I would need until my next paycheck came.
I was chastened to realize that I had spent so much of the day in fear, but I also saw the real, important lesson: instead of going along with the fears that are presented to me, I must go directly to the truth. In this case, there simply was enough. I’ve been in other cases where I did not have the money in the bank that was needed, prayer and willingness to keep looking to God always opened the way for a safe and harmonious resolution.
Like Isaac, we can refuse to battle all the surface claims of disruption on their own and can instead maintain our position that God’s will is done, is good, and includes all His children in perfect peace. This mindset is where we think out from and where we find all our provision.
SECTION 4 – LETTING GOD’S WORD BE HEARD
Bodies of water have an interesting quality that allows sound to carry very well across the surface. Bible citation 13, from Luke 5, tells a story about this on both a literal and a symbolic level. Surrounded with many people, Jesus knew that going out on a boat – separating himself from the hubbub and press of human adulation and demand – and allowing his Gospel to be carried by the natural action of the water [*in what has since been proven to be a natural, acoustical amphitheater] would be the wisest course of action. [*See in Cobbey Crisler’s “GEMs” to follow the findings of acoustical engineer.] Instead of using willpower and personal strength to try to make his message heard, he allowed the natural laws of acoustics to let God’s Word be heard.
How much do we fret and stress about trying to make ourselves be heard? We do all have a voice, and our voices should be raised in praise and defense of justice, good, health, peace – in honor of God and His attributes. But these attributes of God and heaven are not something we personally can get other people to “buy into” — and they’re not forwarded by force of human willpower.
The fact is, as Jesus consistently stated, that heaven is here – present, within us, forever. So, it is not personal power, charisma, or battles which bring heaven to earth; our only role is to wake to the presence of heaven and live our lives as if heaven is here. This is what Jesus encouraged Simon and his men to do – even though they didn’t think there were any fish in the water at that time, he asked them to let their nets down again, and experience for themselves the present bounty.
We, too, can let the presence of heaven be indicated in our demeanor and our treatment of others. We’re not trying to desperately convince people of the truth; we are living the truth, and letting the power of God forward His own work.
SECTION 5 – PERFECT GIFTS
In Malachi, we have this beautiful statement from God: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” (Malachi 3:10)
We are the blessing God pours out. We are the gifts of God. Not in some egotistical or self-important way! But God is always giving, always expressing, and we, His beloved children, are among those gifts and expressions. That true sense of ourselves is what we watch, following along with Psalm 37:37 (cit. B15). As His gift and expression, we are not flawed – all that God gives, accurately and faithfully reflects His nature.
The man at the pool of Bethesda (cit. B16, John 5) was seeing himself as less than the perfect gift of God, and he was waiting for an uncertain, almost fickle gift from…well, somewhere. He was giving into the popular thought of needing to rush for a blessing – perhaps similar to today’s “Fear Of Missing Out,” or FOMO – and saddened because he never caught the blessing in time.
But a true gift from God would be a blessing for everyone, and always freely available – like the mineral-rich water that naturally filled the pool of Bethesda. Jesus invited that man to consider himself from a new perspective – to consider that he could rise in his sense of himself, to think and act as the full, flawless expression of God. Always God’s beloved child! After some hesitation, the man was willing to accept the water of Life (a spiritual view of himself) that Jesus offered, instead of continuing to rely on a changeable, untrustworthy sense of provision and health. What a delight for him!
Willingness to act in obedience to Christ’s healing messages is an attitude we can practice as well – an attitude of confidence to cast our weight on the right side, instead of continuing to insist that there is only a limited way forward.
Last year, during CedarS Memorial Weekend Family Camp, there was some sort of starting problem with the motor of the popular cable ski system on CedarS property. I was delighted to prayerfully support the resolution of this challenge. It was very interesting to me that the only answer I received, and that kept coming consistently and clearly, was this simple statement: “There is a way. Honor the fact that I always have a way.” There were lots of little solutions at hand, and it looked like a temporary fix had been found, which of course was lovely. But it was so fun to learn that, about a day later – with guests still on property and eager to use the cable ski – upon giving the motor “one more go” at normal starting, it simply started working perfectly again!
This operational healing of a cable ski system was not a “one time miracle,” a belief “moving across the water.” This and all healings and demonstrations represent the everlasting springing of divine Life. These precious proofs, like the waters of Life, always pour forth in appreciable ways. Springs of water form pools because the water simply comes up. Springs of Life form deep pools indeed, always showing us right ways forward that are free from strife, fear and pain. Divine Life loves living! We are some of Life’s infinite expressions of itself. What a joy to see and to freely be the stress-free expressions of who we really are!
SECTION 6 – FINDING THE KINGDOM WITHIN
Jesus told us that “the kingdom of heaven is within us”. He says it’s not over there or over here. It’s not in some material place and not in another material place. It is spiritual. It is a state of consciousness to which we each have instant access , wherever we are.
“This kingdom of God ‘is within you,’ — is within reach of man’s consciousness here, and the spiritual idea reveals it. In divine Science, man possesses this recognition of harmony consciously in proportion to his understanding of God.” (cit. S30, 576)
It’s such a gift to realize on any day of our lives, we can gain this spiritual state of consciousness any time of the day. It offers protection, clarity, and healing. When we humbly realize we need God’s help, we yield and open up to God’s view. It doesn’t matter how long we have been dealing with a situation. We still have the opportunity to yield to God’s view and find a divinely fresh and healing perspective. The only thing truly ingrained in us is Life, Truth, and Love. So, it’s worth opening up to see what new thoughts God is providing today.
Enjoy reading about (or listening to) the experience of one soldier who prayed in the midst of a war:
“For the next 12 months, I had continued to replace that belief of an enemy mind with a firm declaration that no one is ever separated from God’s gracious love for all…Then, in the middle of the violence on that September night, facedown on the floor, I felt something deep inside my thought—a stillness, in spite of the roaring attack….Although there was damage to military vehicles and equipment, none of the structures housing our troops were damaged, and there were no casualties. What I remember most about that night was the prayer that came to me. It was a prayer without words, a humble submission to the constant presence of God, who was loving and protecting me as well as all those around me.” (Prayer of Surrender, a shareable link from Christian Science Sentinel)
In proportion to our understanding of God, we can experience the Kingdom of Heaven here and now, which blesses not only us but also all those around us. So, the more we understand God, the more harmony we are able to demonstrate in our experience. Perhaps that is why Jesus tells us in his parables that this understanding – this Kingdom – is the “pearl of great price”.
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” (Matt 13:44, 45 NIV)
The good news is that this understanding is free to all. No one owns it. It is universal, impartial and available to all.
“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” (cit. B20, Isaiah 55:1)
As we pray for our brothers and sisters around the world, we can affirm that the Kingdom of Heaven is within each of us. The Christ is able to speak in each language so that every idea of God will hear God’s Word speaking in just the right way. This Kingdom – this state of divine consciousness – is impartial and loves each one by offering needed clarity, protection, and healing today.
Enjoy blessing and healing the world this week!
GEMs of BIBLE-BASED application ideas (from COBBEY CRISLER & others) will now be POSTED and EMAILED soon. You can always check for current GEMs at CedarS INSPIRATION website, whether or not you’ve SUBSCRIBED here for this free offering.
Also later in the week, look for Ken Cooper’s
“POETIC POSTLUDE”
contributions related to this Bible Lesson.
DEAR past & POTENTIAL, difference-making DONORS, CLICK HERE and Scroll down to hear “What our Donors Say” about the reasons they support CedarS. You’ll also be able to see a video of campers and staff sharing LOTS OF HEARTFELT GRATITUDE for all that you difference-making DONORS DO TO HELP US FEED & SHOE OUR HORSES, MAINTAIN & UPGRADE OUR FACILITIES, GIVE CAMPERSHIPS,
KEEP OUR OPERATIONS “GREEN” & MORE!
Thanks to you and to God, CedarS had another best-summer and fall yet! Your needed, ongoing support — whether it’s one-time, monthly, or forever (though an Endowment Matched gift), will help us continue to “love into view” SUSTAINABLE, DIFFERENCE-MAKING BLESSINGS for hundreds of families and thousands of individuals, for generations to come, all across the U.S. and the world.
After hosting this Fall another wonderful Bible Study Workshop, a touching and joyous Celebration of Life Service, and a great Methodist Women’s Retreat, CEDARS IS SEEKING TO UPGRADE OUR NORTH STAR DINING ROOM TO BE A MISSION-WORTHY CONFERENCE CENTER TO SERVE other SUCH EVENTS. For more about supporting this upgrade, or about making a planned gift, a required IRA distribution or an endowment gift (that will all be MATCHED), feel free to call or text me (Warren Huff) anytime at 314-378-2574.
