Readings for December 29, 2021

From The Bible

The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
(Jeremiah 31:3)

... Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
(Zechariah 4:6 Not)

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
(Revelation 1:8)

Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict.
(Job 37:23)

Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable: ...

The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them. ...

And they sinned yet more against him ...

Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? ...

Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation: ...

Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.

... then they sought him: ...

And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. ...

But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, ...
(Psalms 78:1, 2 (to 1st :), 9–11, 17 (to him), 19, 22, 33, 34 then (to :), 35, 38 (to 3rd ,))

... God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) ...

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
(Ephesians 2:4 God, 5, 10)

¶ And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
(Matthew 4:23)

¶ And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and ...

... there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: ...

And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, ...

... And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother. ...

And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: ...
(Luke 7:11 (to 2nd and), 12 there (to :), 13 (to 2nd ,), 14 4th And, 15 ; 8:1 (to :))

Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, ... having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, ... waiting for the moving of the water.

... whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, ... he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: ...

Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, ... and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. ...

Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, ... because he had done these things on the sabbath day. ¶ But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
(John 5:2 (to 1st ,), 2 having, 3 (to 1st ,), 3 waiting, 4–6 whosoever (to 1st ,), 6 2nd he, 7 (to :), 8, 9 (to 1st ,), 9 3rd and, 14–16 (to 1st ,), 16 because, 17 )

I am the good shepherd, ...

And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, ... and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
(John 10:14 (to 1st ,), 16 (to 2nd ,), 16 3rd and)

¶ And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ...

I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
(Luke 15:3–5, 7)

¶ It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: ...
(Lamentations 3:22, 23 (to :))

O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.
(Psalms 30:2)

The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
(Psalms 145:9)

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
(II Timothy 1:7)

... God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
(I John 4:16 2nd God)

Selections from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy

Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him. — Christ Jesus.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 1:-1)

Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 494:10–11)

[DIVINE LOVE] is my shepherd; I shall not want.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 578:5)

“The prayer of faith shall save the sick,” says the Scripture. What is this healing prayer? ...

... In divine Science, where prayers are mental, all may avail themselves of God as “a very present help in trouble.” Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals. It is the open fount which cries, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.”

In public prayer we often go beyond our convictions, beyond the honest standpoint of fervent desire. ... Even if prayer is sincere, God knows our need before we tell Him or our fellow-beings about it.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 12:1–2 (to ?), 31–6; 13:14–16)

Divine Love corrects and governs man. ...

... To suppose that God forgives or punishes sin according as His mercy is sought or unsought, is to misunderstand Love and to make prayer the safety-valve for wrong-doing.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 6:3 (only), 18)

If we pray to God as a corporeal person, this will prevent us from relinquishing the human doubts and fears which attend such a belief, and so we cannot grasp the wonders wrought by infinite, incorporeal Love, to whom all things are possible. ...

... To be “with the Lord” is to be in obedience to the law of God, to be absolutely governed by divine Love, — by Spirit, not by matter.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 13:20–24; 14:9)

There is to-day danger of repeating the offence of the Jews by limiting the Holy One of Israel and asking: “Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?” What cannot God do?
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 135:17)

What God cannot do, man need not attempt. If God heals not the sick, they are not healed, for no lesser power equals the infinite All-power; but God, Truth, Life, Love, does heal the sick through the prayer of the righteous.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 231:7)

Scripture informs us that “with God all things are possible,” — all good is possible to Spirit; but our prevalent theories practically deny this, and make healing possible only through matter. These theories must be untrue, for the Scripture is true. ...

In our age Christianity is again demonstrating the power of divine Principle, as it did over nineteen hundred years ago, by healing the sick and triumphing over death.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 232:9–13, 16–19)

It is neither Science nor Truth which acts through blind belief, nor is it the human understanding of the divine healing Principle as manifested in Jesus, whose humble prayers were deep and conscientious protests of Truth, — of man's likeness to God and of man's unity with Truth and Love.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 12:10)

Jesus walked on the waves, fed the multitude, healed the sick, and raised the dead in direct opposition to material laws. His acts were the demonstration of Science, overcoming the false claims of material sense or law.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 273:24)

Matter and its claims of sin, sickness, and death are contrary to God, and cannot emanate from Him. There is no material truth. The physical senses can take no cognizance of God and spiritual Truth. ... Deductions from material hypotheses are not scientific. They differ from real Science because they are not based on the divine law.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 273:1–4, 7)

Understanding spiritual law and knowing that there is no material law, Jesus said: “These signs shall follow them that believe, . . . ... They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 328:20–23 (to 3rd .), 24–25)

The miracle introduces no disorder, but unfolds the primal order, establishing the Science of God's unchangeable law.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 135:6–8)

The starting-point of divine Science is that God, Spirit, is All-in-all, and that there is no other might nor Mind, — that God is Love, and therefore He is divine Principle.

To grasp the reality and order of being in its Science, you must begin by reckoning God as the divine Principle of all that really is. Spirit, Life, Truth, Love, combine as one, — and are the Scriptural names for God. All substance, intelligence, wisdom, being, immortality, cause, and effect belong to God. These are His attributes, the eternal manifestations of the infinite divine Principle, Love.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 275:6–17)

Christian scientific practice begins with Christ's keynote of harmony, “Be not afraid!” ...

... If Spirit or the power of divine Love bear witness to the truth, this is the ultimatum, the scientific way, and the healing is instantaneous. ...

... The power of Christian Science and divine Love is omnipotent. It is indeed adequate to unclasp the hold and to destroy disease, sin, and death.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 410:29–30; 411:10; 412:13)

The fear of disease and the love of sin are the sources of man's enslavement. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” but the Scriptures also declare, through the exalted thought of John, that “perfect Love casteth out fear.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 373:14)

This conviction, that there is no real pleasure in sin, is one of the most important points in the theology of Christian Science. Arouse the sinner to this new and true view of sin, show him that sin confers no pleasure, and this knowledge strengthens his moral courage and increases his ability to master evil and to love good.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 404:19)

To hold yourself superior to sin, because God made you superior to it and governs man, is true wisdom. To fear sin is to misunderstand the power of Love and the divine Science of being in man's relation to God, — to doubt His government and distrust His omnipotent care. To hold yourself superior to sickness and death is equally wise, and is in accordance with divine Science. To fear them is impossible, when you fully apprehend God and know that they are no part of His creation.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 231:20)

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.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 476:32–4)

Hold perpetually this thought, — that it is the spiritual idea, the Holy Ghost and Christ, which enables you to demonstrate, with scientific certainty, the rule of healing, based upon its divine Principle, Love, underlying, overlying, and encompassing all true being.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 496:15)

Only as we rise above all material sensuousness and sin, can we reach the heaven-born aspiration and spiritual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord's Prayer and which instantaneously heals the sick.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 16:20)

The power of God brings deliverance to the captive. No power can withstand divine Love. ...

... Love is the liberator.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 224:29–31 (to 2nd .); 225:21)

Hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal

Hymn No. 584
Glory be to God on high, / God whose glory fills the sky; / Peace on earth to man is given, / Man, the well-beloved of heaven. / Gracious Father, in Thy love, / Send Thy blessings from above; / Let Thy light, Thy truth, Thy peace / Bid all strife and tumult cease.

Mark the wonders of His hand: / Power no empire can withstand; / Wisdom, angels' glorious theme; / Goodness one eternal stream. / All ye people, raise the song, / Endless thanks to God belong; / Hearts o'erflowing with His praise, / Join the hymns your voices raise.

Hymn No. 584
The Lord is my Shepherd; I need not a thing. / Green pastures give rest for my soul. / Love leads me beside the still, still waters. / Love restores me, and Love makes me whole.

Love leads me in right paths to honor God's name, / And though I walk through darkest days, / I won't be afraid for Love's here beside me / To protect me and show me the way.

Though sin would surround me, my cup overflows; / You show that I'm never alone. / Your goodness and love are mine forever; / In the dwelling of Love, I am home.

Hymn No. 492
He's got the whole world in His hands, / He's got the whole world in His hands, / He's got the whole world in His hands, / He's got the whole world in His hands.

He's got the wind and the rain in His hands, / He's got the wind and the rain in His hands, / He's got the wind and the rain in His hands, / He's got the whole world in His hands.

He's got the beasts of the field in His hands, / He's got the beasts of the field in His hands, / He's got the beasts of the field in His hands, / He's got the whole world in His hands.

He's got you and me, brother, in His hands, / He's got you and me, sister, in His hands, / He's got everybody here in His hands, / He's got the whole world in His hands.