A real “REALITY show” in parables – especially for YOU!
Met application ideas for the Lesson on “Reality” for 3/24-3/3003 by Maryl Walters, CSB
If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it.
If SHe had a wallet, your photo would be in it.
SHe sends you flowers every spring, and a sunrise every morning.
Whenever you want to talk, SHe’ll listen.
Face it, SHe’s crazy about you.
…and remember . . .
God answers Knee-Mail!
Golden Text: The kingdom of heaven (ultimate reality-God’s rule) has arrived! (Spiritual consciousness is a present reality.)
Responsive Reading: “Time’s up! God’s kingdom is here. Change your life and believe the message.” (From the Bible translation “The Message.”) “How can we picture God’s kingdom? What kind of story can we use?” A grain of mustard seed is so small it’s like dust. But when it grows, it’s a big enough shrub that birds can sit in its branches; in other words, it produces something useful to others. So, if your grasp on truth seems small or if your faith in the healing power of Love is slight, it is still enough to give you and others an experience of heaven, harmony. It is still enough to bring healing. “With many stories like these, he presented his message to them, fitting the stories to their experience and maturity. He was never without a story when he spoke.”
Section 1: B5 “Come and see the works of God.” Open your eyes and look for God’s works and God’s thoughts. Every problem we face is a vision problem! We are not seeing reality, but rather, an illusion called sickness, unhappiness, war, loneliness, etc. It may seem very real to the physical senses, it may seem like the kingdom of heaven is definitely NOT present, (certainly not in Iraq, our physical senses point out) but, (S3) “Like our Master, Christ Jesus, we must depart from material sense into the spiritual sense of being” and then we’ll be able to see the harmony/heaven that is already present. What is spiritual sense? (S4) “The reality of all things brought to light.” (S5) How do we prepare for the reign of universal harmony, the kingdom of heaven? “Learn of the real and eternal.” (Which is what you’re doing when you study the Bible lesson each morning, and then put its ideas into practice during the day.)
Section 2: It only takes a tiny amount of yeast to penetrate and change the whole loaf of bread. In fact, it isn’t a loaf of bread without the yeast. If you’ve ever watched the process, when you mix the yeast in with the flour, it looks at first like nothing is happening. But leave it alone for a while, and you notice the flour mixture starting to rise. It will more than double in bulk with just a tiny amount of yeast in it. It also changes texture completely. So, let the truth of heaven, harmony work it’s change in you. It is going on, even though you don’t see it at first. (S8) “This leaven of Truth is ever at work. It must destroy the entire mass of error.” The three measures of meal in the parable could stand for science, theology, and medicine where the leaven of Truth is hidden and doing its work of change. I see this change in medicine everywhere I go. The truth of man’s spirituality is being talked about all the time now, when about 15 years ago there was no mention of it at all in medical discussions. In theology, there is much more of a recognition of a God of love, and more interest in spiritual healing. In the field of science, you hear scientists saying “There is no matter”! Lots of changes becoming apparent as the leaven of truth is at work. But what about in you? Do you see change and progress in your understanding? It’s important to be aware of the changes, and if you don’t feel that anything is changing (or needs to change) remember this parable-spiritual progress has to happen!
Section 3: The kingdom of heaven is like a fisherman who uses a net to gather the catch. He draws it to the shore and separates the good from the bad. I call this the end-of-the-day parable. Take time at the end of the day to gather every particle of good that you have witnessed in your day and save it. And then, throw the bad away-do not let it remain in your thought. We don’t do this very well, do we? We tend to carry the error from one day to the next, letting it accumulate. Pretty soon, we have this long list of things that we need to be praying about. That method just doesn’t work. And you don’t need to wait for the end of the day. Right now, right when any error is presented, throw it out. Don’t locate error, limitation, frustration, in yourself, in your background, in your parents, in your boss. Don’t locate a physical problem in an ear, or a heart, or a foot. And don’t think you’ve done the right thing if you’ve simply moved the location of the error to your thinking. If you have to locate it somewhere, locate it in the trash can. And then hit the delete button! We spend our lives being mesmerized by the bad fish in our net, being impressed by them, collecting them, carrying them around with us everywhere we go-and all we end up with is a stinking mess! Delete the error at once. This is a guaranteed way to experience heaven on earth! (S14) “Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts.”
Section 4: (B15) Is it enough to have 99 good thoughts if one needed good thought is missing? God gathers EVERY thought into its proper channel. Don’t allow even one good idea to be lost. Is it enough to be obedient nine times out of ten? If you’re working a math problem and the tenth part of it is incorrect, it makes the whole problem wrong. Don’t be lazy about going after that one stray character fault and bringing it back to the fold, rejoicing all the way. (S17) “It is impossible that man should lose aught that is real, when God is all and eternally his.” What is the greatest necessity of your existence? (To get a car, to find a summer job, to heal a physical problem?) “The grand necessity of existence is to gain the true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of heaven in man.” (S18) This is you reason to get up every morning and face your day-you can’t wait to learn more about what constitutes the kingdom of heaven in man. How do you do this? (S19) (Here’s the vision thing again-every problem is an incorrect view of ourselves or others.) “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.”
Section 5: (B18) What does casting out devils by the Spirit of God have to do with the kingdom of God coming to you? In Jesus’ time, being possessed with a devil or devils was the description for anything they didn’t understand, any discord of an emotional or mental nature, and even some physical problems. Today we might say anything that throws us off balance, that contaminates our thinking, that side-tracks us; anything that becomes so emotional we aren’t thinking clearly. Again, we have a vision problem-the need to see what the error is and then see through it. (S22) “Spirit’s senses (your spiritual senses) are without pain, and they are forever at peace. Nothing can hide from them the harmony of all things and the might and permanence of Truth.” (S24) “There is more Christianity in seeing and hearing spiritually than materially.”
Section 6: So, in summary, is this all a HUGE amount of work for you to do to gain the kingdom of heaven? No. It’s a gift to you! (B19) “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to GIVE you the kingdom.” And what do you do when someone gives you a special gift? Open it! Put it to use! (B20) “The kingdom of God is within you.” (S26) “This spiritual consciousness is therefore a present possibility.” (B22) “Thou (God) art exalted as head above all.” HEAD ABOVE ALL. Are we acting like Love is head above all in our relationships? Are we honoring Principle as first and foremost in all our dealings? Are we seeing Truth as the most important (and only) thing for us to voice? Is Spirit our only focus, not matter? I often tell people that their God isn’t BIG enough-their concept of God. They act as if God is only a small part of the equation, or a limited player on the scene. But God is ALL. And the kingdom of God is within each of us. So-this spiritual consciousness is a PRESENT possibility -not something to be put off for the future.
