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Truth IS knocking! Courageously open up & demonstrate its power!
Lesson Application Ideas (a CedarS “Met”) on “Truth” for Jan. 19-25, 2004
By Gary Duke, C.S. (St. Louis, MO)

Our nation this week is honoring the life of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a civil rights activist who pursued the goal of equality for all people. His moral courage and effective leadership earned him the Nobel Peace Prize and provided a model for non-violent change around the world. Jesus and Mrs. Eddy also spoke out, not only against social injustice, but against all forms of sin as well as the injustices of sickness and death.

Golden Text (God is Truth): “…the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king:” Mrs. Eddy and other Bible translations state God is Truth and not merely true; He is Life and not merely a component of life; He is omnipotent and not merely a king. God is “over all, and All” (S&H 17:15), therefore we will know truth to the degree we know God and demonstrate that knowledge.

Responsive Reading (The Word has Power): Ahab, King of Israel wandered far from truth with the worship of Baal, a Canaanite god thought to have authority over the rain. To teach Ahab, Jezebel (his Canaanite wife) and their followers about the true God, the prophet Elijah announced there would be a severe drought, which lasted 31/2 years. Elijah was then instructed by God to go to Zarephath, to the house of a widow woman who had a son. While Elijah was residing with the family, the son got sick and died. The widow blamed Elijah, whom she knew to be a prophet, saying he was there to punish her for whatever sins she had committed. In other words, her understanding of God was one of punishment and vengeance. The response by Elijah was prayer to God, which resulted in raising and healing the boy. The widow then believed the word of God as spoken by the prophet.

Section 1 (Get Real!): We’ve heard the saying, “Get real!” How can we know what is real? Citation B2 talks about, “believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” What might some of those false prophets be? Aren’t they anything which would try to separate us from God (see definition S1) and ultimately from our neighbor like fear, ego and sensualism? There is an easy test to know what is real. Mrs. Eddy says, “Truth is affirmative, and confers harmony. All metaphysical logic is inspired by this simple rule of Truth, which governs all reality.” (S5) So if we are affirming what is spiritually true, denying error and experiencing harmony instead of churning inside, we’re real!

Section 2 (Will ~ Human or Divine?): Have you ever noticed, if you want something badly and are getting emotional about it, it’s probably human will directing the show and not divine Mind? And then we end up retracing our steps ~ working things out first in our own thinking and then making apologies or in some way making amends. That’s exactly what happened to the son of King David, Adonijah, who was the eldest living son and heir apparent. He wanted to be king while his ailing father David was still alive, so he threw himself a big coronation party and declared himself the ruler. When David heard about this, he anointed Solomon king which scattered everyone loyal to the pretender and sent Adonijah scrambling for forgiveness to Solomon who spared him…for the time being. (B6,7) Mrs. Eddy sums it up for us, “Human will is an animal propensity, not a faculty of Soul. Hence it cannot govern man aright. Christian Science reveals Truth and Love as the motive-powers of man. Will – blind, stubborn, and headlong – cooperates with appetite and passion. From this cooperation arises its evil. From this also comes its powerlessness, since all power belongs to God, good.” (S9)

Section 3 (Spiritual Perception): Solomon was 10th in the line of succession and may have felt humanly humble by his good fortune in leapfrogging over his other male siblings. But his true humility was the result of a deeper spiritual perception of his identity as God’s reflection. Solomon was at least 20 years old when he became king yet he said in a dream, “…I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart…” (S8); he could easily have said, “I’m king with all the power and prestige of the office…oh and by the way God, give me a long life, riches and victory in battle.” How do our prayers match up? Are we appealing humbly to God as a child and looking “deep into realism instead of accepting only the outward sense of things?” (S14) Mrs. Eddy also says, “Spiritual perception brings out the possibilities of being, destroys reliance on aught but God, and so makes man the image of his Maker in deed and in truth.” (S11)

Section 4 (Courage): The townspeople of Nazareth tried to toss Jesus off the brow of a hill for contrasting their doubt with the faith of a Gentile widow woman from Zarephath. (B9; Sidon in Greek) “It requires courage to utter truth; for the higher Truth lifts her voice, the louder will error scream, until its inarticulate sound is forever silenced in oblivion.” (S17) Can we muster the courage to utter truth in the face of error at school, work, sports, relationships, etc.? If we do, the same grace and truth will protect us that saved Jesus as he passed through the midst of the townspeople untouched. (S18)

Section 5 (Power of Truth): What if you don’t feel worthy of healing because you’ve done something wrong or are just not living up to your highest sense of right? “…it does not follow that the profane or atheistic invalid cannot be healed by Christian Science. The moral condition of such a man demands the remedy of Truth more than it is needed in most cases; and Science is more than usually effectual in the treatment of moral ailments.” (S22) Jesus proved this in casting out the “spirit of an unclean devil” and having witnesses exclaim,”… What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.” (B10)

Section 6 (Truth is Knocking): Will you answer the call? “The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the portal of humanity.” (S24) What is the reward for being a spiritual thinker? “When the Science of being is universally understood, every man will be his own physician, and Truth will be the universal panacea.” (S28) A panacea is cure-all; a remedy for all ills and difficulties. Thus, Truth is the only viable solution.

Section Summary Benediction: By understanding God is Truth and the only truth, we find the Word has power and we “get real” in all we think and do. When we yield only to divine will and forgo the human, our spiritual perception is sharpened, giving us courage to proceed with the power of truth. Truth is always knocking at our portal of thought for admittance to guard, govern and guide.

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