“So I give you a new command: Love each other deeply and fully. Remember the ways that I have loved you, and demonstrate your love for others in those same ways. Everyone will know you as My followers if you demonstrate your love to others.”
Jesus, to his disciples. Now, for us today.
The Voice Bible translation
John 13
Then there is a settled calm. Admitting our oneness with God removes feelings of separation, fear. Agreeing with God removes from us ungodlike opinions. Recognizes spiritual fact as our consciousness. Clarifies our identity as one with divine Mind, and recognizes our safety in divine Love. Agreeing with God is immediate strength, purpose, and conviction. We are God’s team! And the best teamwork is when the team is one active, invincible unit!
Agreeing with God reveals to us our security. We love it! We are obedient to God, good.
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20
Agreeing with God is active. It conquers, and subjugates, defeats and gains control over, the arguments of a material view. It opens our thought to prove the truth of spiritual understanding.
Down through the centuries, spiritual thinkers accepted and rejoiced in this relationship, its beauty, strength, and purpose. Pure Spirit. Purely spiritual.
Christ Jesus did
Mrs. Eddy did.
You and I do.
What wonderful revelations come through defining.
Agree:
to concur in (as an opinion)
admit, concede
to achieve or be in harmony (as a, feeling, or purpose)
to come to an arrangement as to a course of action
to say that you will do, accept, or allow something that is suggested or requested by another person
to decide to accept something after discussing what should or might be done
to accept or concede something (as the views or wishes of another)
agree to a plan
to get along together
to be consistent,
to be fitting, pleasing, or healthful
to have an inflectional form denoting identity
As the manifestation of Mind, Life, man is one with God.This is fact, spiritual truth. Agreeing with God simply removes all suggestions of resistance to good in our thoughts about our lives and our world, and awakens us to the revelation of new, necessary, specific-to-our-needs, ideas and inspiration. We have aligned with what is right now true, – our own, man’s, wonderful, pure, good, spiritual nature. This is the power of the promises throughout the Bible and the discovery of this Christ Science. Accept these promises! They are for you and all men who love God, good. They will not be denied!
No good is ever withheld, and all good is recognized as permanent, eternally provided, because man, is one with God, his only true source and origin.
Today, you have but to agree. How lovely is that?
And be willing to see only as God sees.
Daily, hourly, we need new views. We need clearer views, of ourselves and of others. We need to be willing to see as God sees. We need to be willing, not to be mesmerized by what others think we should think, or what others believe we should believe.
Our standard must be in our willingness to see only what God sees and knows. That will always begin, never with false opinion, judgment, of ourselves or others, but with perfection. Perfect God perfect man as our starting point, and our staying point. Choose God, choose good, to see what you see.
Here I am including a favorite statement on Perfection. See how this stand for identifying perfection brought healing to Irving Tomlinson, the author of “Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy.”
“PERFECTION”
Irving Tomlinson (Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy), in one of his lectures, told what he learned to do to keep his thought in tune or in oneness with God. It is entitled “perfection”, and I quote:
“I have learned to make Science a thing of life, and I’m going to tell you what the wonderful secret is. For it is wonderful. Now it is this: not to feel, see or repeat any kind of imperfection. It is seeing, hearing and repeating good, and only good… at all times, under all circumstances, in spite of everything that appears to the contrary.
“I make the resolution every morning when I first open my eyes, and review it every hour of the day. I see perfection, the perfect cause the perfect effect, perfect God and perfect man, and I refuse to make any kind of exception. I refuse to admit the slightest imperfection in myself, and my friends, in my so-called enemies, and in the affairs of the world.
“I take that radical stand every day for the perfection of God in everything and everybody He has made. I look upon the world with God’s eyes, and in it, see it as He sees it. I refuse to see it any other way. I stop a dozen times a day and review the resolve and make sure I’m not repeating error, giving way to fear or criticism. I watch my thoughts, even about people, the lame, the old, the unlovely to sense, that I pass, and the stray animals.
“I have taken my radical stand for the perfection of all things and I absolutely will not release the perfect standard. The result has been marvelous. Try it and you will forget to wear glasses; they will become unnecessary. You will be seeing with God’s eyes and will behold a perfect universe. The outward worlds are the pictures of the inward thinking. To change the picture, one must change the thought that produced the picture.”.
Adjective
having no exceptions or restrictions.
Synonyms
all-out,…clean, complete,
outright, perfect, profound, pure, sheer, simple, total, unadulterated, absolute, unqualified
Related Words
authentic, genuine, real, veritable; constant, endless, eternal, perpetual, undying, unremitting; extreme, unrestricted; confirmed, habitual, extraordinary, huge, supreme, surpassing, terrific
Near Antonyms
doubtful, dubious, equivocal, qualified, questionable, restricted, uncertain
Unconditional. Love.
Jesus’ instruction: “Thou (you, me, us, all, and each one) shalt (have (to), must, ought (to), need, should) love the Lord,YOUR God with all your heart and soul and mind; and your neighbor (him or her right here, over there, or way over and out there) as yourself. (assuming you are starting with loving yourself because you know you are God’s loved child.) Matt 22:37.
This is Love without condition, or judgment, or exception. It is the Love that is available to all because it is not personal but divine. This divine Love is the source of all good for each one everywhere. Knowing this is the break through for all needs and all problems. It has nothing to do with limits. It has nothing to do with deciding if someone, ourselves or another, is worthy of love. They are. You are.
“They” are loved. You are loved. Divinely, unconditionally loved.
Rest there.
…then move on.
Receiving, understanding, loving this gives you freedom. Freedom to know who you are, why you are. To love. Freedom to look at others, and at life, in a brand new way.
Freedom to release your thoughts of others from who you thought they thought they were and what you thought they weren’t.
Is it a selfish commandment? Rather, isn’t it the very means to the possible? To the very hub of our reason for being.
The commandment is summed up: “Perfect Love casts out fear.” I John 4:18
More later.
Matt. 6:6
“Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.” The Message
” …when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you..” New Living Translation
“…when you pray, go to your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is present in that secret place. Your Father who sees what you do in secret will reward you.” Contemporary English Bible
Jesus said, “And when ye stand praying, forgive....” *
(In the Greek: Release it, let it go)
Complete,
full, overarching, all-inclusive
Forgiving.
Purifying
(Is it even possible?
Can I do this?
What’s my model?)
Well, Jesus did.
Losing the mortal sense,
he overcame the personal,
Actively forgiving,
releasing hurt,
removing scars
as unreal,
he knew the real, saw the true,
man pure and innocent,
And finally ascended.
We are daily ascending.
Above what?
A personal sense of life, even personal love,
To what?
A pure love that sees only as God sees,
Knows only what God knows,
Living the love of Love that leaves no one out.
(But, maybe, forgiveness,
as he did,
takes time?)
Then the Christ dawns.
There’s no time not to love!
We’re shown how,
“Love is reflected in love,” **
Now. Not just later.
Now Love divine includes all and each,
Purely spiritual,
Always and forever,
permanently perfectly good,
(Now I know and feel it.)
Now the full light of Love divine fills every corner of my thought,
lightens
and completely removes
every suggested darkened stain of judgment,
about myself, or another, or others.
Now pure thought restored, innocence assured,
(We were always forgiven by our Father-Mother Love)
And? Look!
Our consciousness ascended
Always and in all ways we are
cleaned,
cleared,
renewed,
restored,
refreshed,
freed,
healed,
Mark 11:25 ** Science and Health, p. 17.
I’ve wanted to share a recent significant healing for a couple of reasons. One, because I was most grateful for it, and Two, because of what I felt impelled the immediacy of the healing.
A few weeks ago, visiting family, we had a big weekend of theater planned. Loving going to many of the kids’ productions, we had, as well, an afternoon set aside for a professional musical event.
Rushing to get to the location on time, as I changed clothes, one of the four dogs escaped out the back door. I knew she was playing and did not want to be corralled, but I went after her to bring her in, and as she bolted, she flipped me down onto the concrete and I landed on my face.
My daughter immediately came to my rescue and helped me up, – we put the dog away and got into the car. I then realized that my chin was injured, knee skinned, and my jaw was completely dislocated. I couldn’t close my mouth or put my teeth together.
I had absolutely no idea humanly what I would do as a sort of solution, and I think that was really beneficial to the situation for there was no obvious human answer.
As I sat in the front seat of the car, my husband driving, and our daughter and another dear Christian Scientist in the back, we pulled out of the driveway, and someone said, “We don’t have to go.”
My immediate reaction was a very firm, vehement, “Yes we do!” I felt adamant, regardless, we were to go ahead with our day.
I remember I had previously been working and loving the idea of perfect alignment, –that all of God’s ideas, circumstances, relationships were right then in absolute perfect alignment. That was much going on with the family in terms of adjustment and many circumstances were involved; this was such a perfect spiritual concept to tuck everybody up, knowing each and every one, God governed was, in every detail, safe and in their right place.
The car was quiet as we drove 45 minutes, each of us continuing to pray quietly. When we got to the theater, everyone was solicitous, and though we were a little late, we found our seats amid a happy joyous rambunctious musical on stage.
I found myself very quiet and very steady, not trying to deal with the problem, but lifting thought away from any picture or human effort, just trustingly knowing that right alignment included all, everyone in the theater, myself as well. It was such a steady assuring feeling of security. Though at that point nothing had physically changed.
After intermission, I began to relax and enjoy the music. The lady next to me seemed to lack any sense of joy, so I just decided there was plenty for all of us, and included her, perfectly aligned with good, as well.
Then this funny thought said, “Why not have some gum?” And I started to find my purse, but the next thought was, “You can’t do that. You can’t chew!”
I then recognized this impluse to get gum was a gentle guiding step, and I put a piece of gum in my mouth. And forgetting about the details, I simply enjoyed the play, and soon found I was chewing naturally and easily.
As we exited the theater, I thanked each one for their prayers, for my jaw and mouth had, in fact, aligned perfectly and painlessly. That evening at dinner, there was a gentle pop, and we heard a painless adjustment that was evidently needed.
In retrospect, we agreed that the healing essentially took place right at the beginning of the experience, when the offer was lovingly suggested, “We don’t have to go,” giving fear and worry a foot in. The immediate response was to reject that as any option, refuting the suggestion of helplessness or injury.
The Bible guides us, “Agree with thine adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him.” (Matt. 5:26). I have loved the awareness that we are most effective in our treatment when we immediately reject anything that denies God’s allness and ever-presence.
Immediate rejction of untoward experiences, unhappy thoughts, or discordant physical situations is our guidance for our spiritual dominion. Regardless of how long a situation appears to have existed, or a circumstance been inharmonious, every single time it comes to your thought hit the mental reject button. Find it to be unacceptable in your experience because unauthorozed by your source, divine Life, divine Mind. Then with your spiritual Christlike understanding, declare the truth about the lie. We are told on page 233 of Science and Health, “The counterfact relative to any disease is required to cure it.” We must use the spiritual authority we have been given through our study of Christian Science. Our spiritual preparation and steady spiritual progress will be our shield and protection.
I will always be grateful to see and recognize that we have the God-given, God-impelled authority to reject what is unknown to divine Mind, and to listen and obey the instruction we are being given. The evidence is then naturally right there. It’s such a God gift to bear witness to this very natural, Love-filled care.
Mrs. Eddy was once asked (C.S. Series), “Is it possible to change the aged form to one of youth, beauty, and immortality without the change called death?”
She replied, “In proportion as the law of Truth is understood and accepted, it obtains in the personality as well as the character. The deformities as well as the infirmities, said to be the inevitable results of age, under the opposite mental impressions, disappear.”
“You change the physical manifestation in proportion to your changed thought of the effect of accumulative years. Expecting an increase of usefulness and vigor from advancing years with as much faith as you look for decrepitude and ugliness, a favorable result would be sure to follow.”
*Jeremiah 30:17 **Originally published in Christian Science Series, May 1, 1889.
Choices, choices! The verse from Psalms is our promise for our life!
I ask myself regularly, what am I planning for? What am I seeing? What am I expecting? Am I taking in, or acting out, what others are expecting or formulating in their thoughts of life and living? Am I closing the doors, or allowing doors to be closed for me, to new adventures, new discoveries, new possibilities for living, new views of joy and goodness that are available to me as a sincere earnest spiritual seeker?
Because if I am doing anything that turns my views to a life limited, or restricted, or sad, discouraged, dwelling on past good only, or on the negative outpouring going on in news or film, or tv, then my understanding of the gift of the Science of the Christ is not being utilized. My life will show the mortal view rather than the spiritual, true view of wonderful, God-given, God-secured permanent blessings and infinite, eternal, every-day progress. This is what is available to those who choose to discover the spiritual sense of living, and work to love from that sense of life. (Hence the title of this post!)
I know for absolute fact that God, divine good, is eternal, forever. I know that God will and is and has been the Creator and ever-present available source of the real and the true and the good, all completely spiritual, expressed as beauty and health, and love, and grace, and generosity, and purity, as man and the universe, reflecting this all-good God, Love. I know that whatever human mortal concepts seem to drive our human circumstances, the truth of it all is that, regardless of wrongly educated perceptions, God, the one only divine Mind is, in fact, forever and eternally the only real.
My experience, my life, will be either strengthened, enriched, guided and protected by my ever-increasing desire and confidence to know God right; to gain spiritual understanding of this absolute fact that is forever true and present, (although sometimes feeling obscured by a false material sense of things and circumstances included.) Or my life and experience will be depleted, drained, used up just by following negative, downward paths. These paths are not known to God, the infinte eternal, divine Love, but if we are not cherishing divine Love as the our source and provider of life and love, we will experience few of its benefits. Our choice of view, not God’s.
Mary Baker Eddy puts it clearly. “Earth’s actors change earth’s scenes.” (First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p 17) We are and we do. We are not space-holders taking up space on a planet filled with material desires or problems or struggling to survive. We are each and every one sporitual beings with a divine sourse and purpose. Let’s learn and discover that – about each one.
As I look at the world’s temptations to take away man’s joy and confidence in good, I recognize I have serious choices to make, serious individual decisions as to what my individual consciousness will include. Each and every one must make the same choice.
What will govern my thought? What will govern my life? The eternal, forever Christ that knows no mortal dream or experience of evil leaving one feeling helpless and alone. Or my ever confident, conscious awareness of God, good, now, today, and forever. God truly is Life. The only Life there is.
That understanding of Life is truth, is available, has always been. We need to sign in and sign up! One by one, individual by individual thought and life, we make a difference because we will bring out the good of God in our experience, right where world’s temptations tempt.
God chose us. Have we chosen God?
From Cindy.
I have a three year-old colt that is being trained by a wise, kind man. When he works with my horse and me, he often throws out catch phrases to help me understand the methodology or communication techniques. Some of these catch phrases have struck a spiritual chord with me as I have endeavored to put them into practice with both my horse and myself.
One of these phrases was “just keep walking with confidence and focus on your direction”. As my trainer walked forward with a specific direction and point in mind, he walked directly toward my horse. As he approached with intent and purpose, my horse immediately recognized that he should move out of the way quickly. When my trainer walked without purpose, the horse did not move out of the way.
What is the point? From a training perspective, my youngster learned to watch the body cues, and move out of the way creating a safety bubble for the human.
Spiritually, I found a different point. I thought that if I prayed with direction,purpose, understanding and expectancy, then the obstacles that seemed to be in my way would just move out of the way. If, on the other hand, I approached my prayer with “I hope this works” or a passive attempt to make it work, then the obstacles in the way loomed solid and impenetrable.
What a difference between expectancy and feeble “I hope so”! God is All and we can expect All to be enough in every direction!