You are not a disappointment to “God the Only Cause and Creator!”
Application ideas on the Lesson-Sermon for May 31-June 6, 2004
by Julie Ward, C.S. (Westwood, MA)
Golden Text – God created the heaven and the earth, “And God saw EVERY THING that he had made, and behold, it was VERY GOOD.” Note the all-inclusiveness of this statement. It doesn’t say that SOME of it was very good, or that some of it was mediocre. It was all very good. What else could come forth from a source that is pure Good?
RESPONSIVE READING
Look for the qualities of God that shine forth in His creation – honor, majesty, light, might, permanence, abundance, wisdom, efficiency, and harmony. All of these qualities shine forth as a cohesive whole at His command. And here’s the best part: they stand forever and ever.
SECTION I -“To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal?”
Only by starting with an infinite Creator, who “fainteth not, neither is weary,” can we understand the vastness and the infinite variety of creation. As we identify ourselves more and more with that infinite Source, we can drop the belief that we are personal creators and rest in these promises: “…He performeth the thing that is appointed for me,…’ (B2) and “for that he is strong in power, not one faileth.” The concept of failure is unknown to God! “His tender mercies are over ALL his works,” and that includes each one of us.
This week, let’s practice seeing the universe, not as a bunch of stuff bumbling around, but as “filled with spiritual ideas” which are “obedient to the Mind that makes them.” (SH1) Remember that “Deity was satisfied with His work.” (SH4) He’s not disappointed in us! His work needs no “extreme make-overs”, no tweaking.
SECTION II – Infinite Mind can only have infinite ideas
Here are two questions to consider from (B5): How can invisible things be clearly seen? Do we serve the creature more than the Creator? It’s so important that we not get so bogged down in dealing with the “stuff” of life that we forget to simply worship God first. Look for ways in which you can change the focus of your thought from the creature to the Creator. (B6) is a wonderful reminder that God’s thoughts are never in vain. They accomplish the thing that they are sent to do. Not a single right thought ever falls to the ground! And the thoughts that God thinks toward us are always thoughts of peace, which give us “an expected end” – a right conclusion.
Look for the ways that this section contrasts God’s thoughts with material concepts. (SH6) gives us a model for right reasoning – “reasoning from cause to effect.” Animal magnetism tempts us to reason from effect to cause, which gives us an inverted concept of Life and happiness. Here are just a few ways to spot God’s thoughts. They are infinite, intelligent, pure, perfect, enduring, harmonious, eternal, and substantial. They don’t shift with the times and circumstances.
SECTION III – All communication is from God, and is perfect.
Moses was selected to be the spokesman for a nation, even though he was slow of speech. When he protested, telling God of his limitations, God asked him a question, “Who hath made man’s mouth?” If you’re nervous about speaking before a group, or even just saying just the right thing to a family member, remember that God’s promise to Moses is also a promise to you: “I will be with thy mouth, and will teach thee what thou shalt say.” (B10) The point is to never lose sight of where the ideas come from, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.” (B13) Isn’t that a great thought to keep in your pocket as you head into exam time?
When you begin a project, be sure to acknowledge that all good is possible. We’re not here to create something new, but to ” discover what God has already done.” (SH10) It’s already complete! Hooray! Mrs. Eddy reminds us, “We are all capable of more than we do.” (SH11) How can we do more? By purifying our motives and by acknowledging that every right idea originates with God and belongs to God. Here’s my candidate for the statement that we all should memorize this week: “Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way. Right motives give pinions to thought and strength and freedom to speech and action.”(SH14)
SECTION IV – God never created a mortal mind.
The healing of the boy with the dumb spirit is a perfect answer to any claim of involuntary action. This boy seemed to be victimized by his body – by the belief that body was controlled by a flawed mind. Jesus “rebuked the foul spirit.” He saw that it was entirely separate from the boy. The immediate result was that the boy seemed worse, even to the point that “he was as one dead,” but Jesus was not alarmed. He “took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.” He lifted his thought above the problem. Why hadn’t the disciples healed him? Jesus said, “This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” If we have a problem that we haven’t yet healed, let’s pray without ceasing, and fast from the evidence of the material senses.
Here’s a great reminder: “We can never treat mortal mind and matter separately, because they combine as one.” (SH15) It’s never really a physical problem. Notice Mrs. Eddy’s definition of electricity (SH 19). This “sharp surplus of materiality” seems to show itself now as a host of problems based in the brain – depression, schizophrenia, learning disabilities, autism, etc. They claim that there is energy without intelligence, or that there is a flawed connection which causes man to lose control over his thought and his body. Right where these appear to be, “Christian Science brings to light Truth and its supremacy, universal harmony, the entireness of God, good, and the nothingness of evil.”(SH19)
SECTION V – God created perfect action.
I love to think about the friends who let the palsied man down through the roof so that he could see Jesus. How they must have loved their friend! And what trust they must have had that he certainly would be healed! Do we do this when we see a friend suffering? Do we know that nothing can keep him out of the presence of the Christ?
Why do you think that Jesus first stated that his sins were forgiven, even though it appeared that he was treating a physical problem?
If we believe that action comes from mortal mind (that brain tells nerves and nerves tell muscles to act in a certain way), there is always the possibility of a mixed message or a missed message. But if “Mind produces all action” (and it does!), that action is always intelligent, and there is no opportunity for a wrong message or one that is deflected. “Spirit needs no wires or electricity in order to be ever-present.” (SH22) One definition of CREATOR is “the animating divine Principle of all that is real and good.” If we know that Spirit, God, alone animates us, then all of our movement will be efficient, graceful, strong, flexible, orderly, agile.
SECTION VI – You’re enlisted!
What have you enlisted to do? “The Christian Scientist has enlisted to lessen evil, disease, and death, . . . ” How will you do it? “…. He will overcome them by understanding their nothingness and the allness of God, or good.” (SH25)
The man called Legion is the archetype of confused, self-destructive thought. He lived in the mountains and in the tombs – the highest highs and the lowest lows. “No man could bind him” – no sense of self-control. He was so filled with conflicting impulses that he ran to worship Jesus, then asked “What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of the Most high God?” It was as if Jesus’ very presence was a torment to him. It was like turning on a light in a room where all the mess had been hidden by darkness. As with the boy with the deaf and dumb spirit, Jesus didn’t rebuke the patient, but the evil spirit that tormented him.
Why do you think that Jesus asked the patient his name? Wasn’t that claim that “we are many ” at the core of the case? Why were the devils sent into a herd of swine? Did he need to see very graphically that this herd of errors that had tormented him were not his thought? They could – and must – destroy themselves, but they could never destroy him. His true individuality was clothed (protected), in his right mind (Infinite Mind), sitting at the feet of Jesus (in humble recognition of the Christ). And he took his healing and shared it. Have we done that?
Mrs. Eddy writes (Mis. 104:14-15), “Clothed, and in its right Mind, man’s individuality is sinless, deathless, harmonious, eternal.”
Closing summary statement: “The real jurisdiction of the world is in Mind, controlling every effect and recognizing all causation as vested in divine Mind.” (SH29)
