Tag: holy bible

Man is not the creator.

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When we think man is a creator, we think that man is responsible for creating health; he or she must have perfect genetics to make up the perfect child.  Man has to maintain and sustain himself through a job, money, right connections, exercise, healthy eating, and at the same time try to fulfill his own hopes and dreams.

This is a lot of stress on man.  And it has side-effects such as stubbornness, human will, manipulation, deceit, as well as selfishness, competition, and fear.

Fortunately, this picture is not accurate.

Spirit, God created man, perfect in His own image and likeness.  Man has all the qualities and characteristics to do and achieve that which he needs.  They are including in his being.  All of his hopes and aspirations are given to him by God and therefore fulfilled and satisfied through Him.  God blesses his children with beautiful relationships that are loving, kind, and caring.  God supplies all of man’s needs and wants because man’s purpose is to glorify and express God (Life, Truth, Love).  Man’s sufficiency comes from God.

“Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;”[i]

All beauty, fruitfulness and plenty come from God and are the attributes of His government.  There is no lack or limitation to the infinite, supreme, all good, God.

“And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee.”[ii]

When we are conscious of this Truth, we are governed by divine Mind.  We hear God’s direction and are one with God’s thoughts, which are always good, lovely, assuring angel messages.  We are governed obediently, following and yielding to the divine will, which includes and blesses all with infinite intelligence.

“Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.”[iii]

So we can be reassured and rest in God’s love.  We can yield to this spiritual sense of things, which is telling us this truth each moment, uplifting and blessing us.

And we can make more space for God, Spirit, in our lives.  God, good, is already governing and controlling things.  Our duty is to be conscious and aware of this.  This takes daily prayer to quiet the limited human sense of things for the spiritual and true sense of what God sees and knows.  As we yield to this we will be governed by divine Mind and we will experience the fruits of this government in our lives.  This includes more consistent health, a greater sense of energy and purpose, better family relationships, a more stable structure, and abundant supply that comes with ease.

Spirit, which is infinite intelligence, governs all things perfectly and It’s reign is here and now.  Let’s yield to this in our thought and feel the blessings that are included for all mankind.

For more helpful ideas visit www.christianscience.com or read “Science and Health” by Mary Baker Eddy.

[i] The Holy Bible, King James Version, II Cor. 3:5

[ii] The Holy Bible, King James Version, Deut. 28:11

[iii] The Holy Bible, King James Version, Psalms 100:3

Loving Ourselves

Published on by lindseybiggs1 Comment

I read an interesting article the other day.  It pointed out to love ourselves first, and then we will have the ability to love our neighbor as ourselves.[i] I feel this point is important when understood in a spiritual perspective.

If I see myself as the spiritual idea that God created – beautiful, useful, intelligent, filled with right ideas, creative, and shining – then I express that, and I’m able to see others that way.

On the contrary, if I’m not seeing myself spiritually, then I’m probably not going to see others spiritually as well.  If I only love myself a little bit or some of the time, than I’m only going to love my neighbor a little bit or some of the time.  We can see ourselves as the spiritual perfect man or woman that God created, and in that way we can be uplifted and help uplift others.

When we love ourselves as God’s child then we naturally bless and include others.  We radiate God’s light.  We see ourselves through the lens of Love, and we are able to see others in the same way.  Giving becomes easier.  We are more productive and appreciative.  We feel more spontaneity, energy and enthusiasm.

Negative thoughts about yourself are draining.  They take away our strength and lead to discouragement.  They may be regret, inadequacy, unworthiness, fear of failure, or lack of confidence.  On the other hand they may be self-righteousness or self-justification.  The type of attitude that says, “I don’t care what anyone else feels; I’m going to do it anyway”; Or it may be criticizing others so that we feel better.  This isn’t loving ourselves as God made us either.

We are each the beloved child of God.  God knows us as spiritual and perfect, eternally abiding in His kingdom.  “In Him we live and move and have our being”.[ii] Therefore we can never be apart from God or leave His side.  No mistake or accident from the past can taint us today.  We are “new-born”[iii] each day, and we can always “put on the new man”[iv].

I had the privilege of attending a Christian marriage seminar shortly after I was married.  Wonderful ideas were shared including this one that I like: we are 100% responsible for how we feel.  This takes pressure off your spouse or anyone else to be the one to please or make you happy.  And it takes pressure off of you to look for someone to make you feel good.

When we are responsible for how we feel, we are much nicer to be around and easier to get along with.  We don’t have to look to someone else for approval or satisfaction; we can look to God to know we are taking the right step and walking the right way.  We can check with God before we do or say anything.  And we know we are already loved.  I like revising the well-known Bible statement that says, “We love him, because he first loved us”[v] to say ‘we love ourselves, because God first loved us’.

Loving yourself is being obedient to God.  God made you and created you.  Loving yourself is acknowledging God’s wonderful creation.   It isn’t selfish at all.  And we are more valuable to Him when we see who we are as He/She created us to be – perfect and eternal in His/Her own spiritual image and likeness.

So let’s love ourselves today, and in that way we will truly be able to love others.

[i] Christian Science Sentinel, “A Promise of Progress”, T. Michael Fish, July 5, 2010

[ii] Holy Bible, King James Version, Acts 17:28

[iii] Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 35

[iv] Holy Bible, King James Version, Eph 4:24, Col 3:10

[v] Holy Bible, King James Version, I John 4:19

Original Good

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I listened to a great audio chat on spirituality.com Tuesday  (“What is True Manhood?” by David Stevens, CSB) that referred to the Adam and Eve story as the story of original good.

I love this idea because it shows the inherent goodness of man and woman.  Man and woman were created good, in God’s own image and likeness.  To me, the story of Adam and Eve describes the nature of the serpent – that which tries to entice our thought into believing we aren’t the spiritual, beloved children of God.  It might say that God isn’t our creator, so therefore God isn’t going to take care of us.

What a lie is this.  The entire burden of thinking we have to care for ourselves can be lifted off when we realize that God is our divine, loving parent, our Father-Mother.  It is God’s job to supply us with all that we need – to eat, to be clothed, to express our purpose, and even the proper functioning of our bodies.  And God does do this.

Mary Baker Eddy, a Christian healer and teacher (1821-1910), wrote, “Is civilization only a higher form of idolatry, that man should bow down to a flesh-brush, to flannels, to baths, diet, exercise, and air?”[i]

Jesus said, “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”[ii]

This points us to God, the source of all goodness.  We are each the beloved child of God.  And abundant goodness, harmony, happiness, purpose and health are the rights of our being and existence.  And there isn’t a being or existence that doesn’t include these attributes, since God is the one and only creator.

All the good that God includes, we include, too, as His reflection.  We have this spiritually, within our relationship, our oneness to God.  When we try to obtain these things materially, we discover they aren’t lasting and are fleeting.

Keeping our eye on God, we cannot be enticed by the serpent (or suggestions in our consciousness).  We find original good and only good to be all there is and all that we can experience.

[i] Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 174

[ii] Holy Bible, King James Version, Matthew 6:31