Light of the World
Wednesday Readings for March 8th, 2023
From The Bible
Gen. 1:3 God, 4 (to :), 26 (to :), 28 (to 1st ,); 2:1 (to ,)
... God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: ...
... ¶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: ...
And God blessed them, ...
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, ...Gen. 2:6 (to ,), 7 (to ,), 16 (to 2nd ,), 17 of (to :); 3:9, 10 (to 1st ,), 10 3rd I, 11, 23 (to ,)
But there went up a mist from the earth, ...
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, ...
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ...
... of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: ...
And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, ... I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? ...
Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, ...Gen. 11:2 (to 2nd ,), 4 they (to 1st ,), 4 let (to ;), 5, 6 (to 2nd ,), 6 this, 8, 9 (to :)
And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, ...
... they said, ... let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; ...
And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, ... this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. ...
So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: ...Deut. 4:23
Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee.
Eccl. 7:29
Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.
Ps. 127:1 (to :)
Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: ...
Eccl. 3:14 (to 2nd :)
I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: ...
Ps. 18:2 (to 3rd ,), 2 4th and, 28
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, ... and my high tower. ...
For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.John 1:3–5; 12:44, 46, 49
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. ...
... ¶ Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. ...
I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. ...
For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.Luke 13:10–14 (to 2nd ,), 15 (to 2nd ,), 16 ought (to 1st ,), 16 whom
And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. ¶ And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, ...
The Lord then answered him, and said, ...
... ought not this woman, ... whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?John 9:1–3, 6 (to 1st ,), 6 3rd he, 7 (to 3rd ,), 7 He
And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. ...
When he had thus spoken, ... he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, ... He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.Matt. 4:23, 25 (to 1st ,)
¶ 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. ...
And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, ...Matt. 16:24
¶ Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Matt. 5:1 (to 1st :), 2, 9, 13 (to :), 14 (to 1st .), 16
And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: ...
And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, ...
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. ...
... ¶ Ye are the salt of the earth: ...
Ye are the light of the world. ...
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.II Cor. 4:6
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
I John 1:4 these, 5, 7; 2:3
... these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. ...
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. ...
And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES by MARY BAKER EDDY
SH 503:18
Genesis i. 3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
SH 511:11 (only, to ,), 12–13 God
In divine Science, ... God is revealed as infinite
light.
SH 510:27–1
Light is a symbol of Mind, of Life, Truth, and Love, and not a vitalizing property of matter. Science reveals only one Mind, and this one shining by its own light and governing the universe, including man, in perfect harmony.
SH 127:4
If God, the All-in-all, be the creator of the spiritual universe, including man, then everything entitled to a classification as truth, or Science, must be comprised in a knowledge or understanding of God, for there can be nothing beyond illimitable divinity.
SH 270:7 Only
Only by understanding that there is but one power, — not two powers, matter and Mind, — are scientific and logical conclusions reached. Few deny the hypothesis that intelligence, apart from man and matter, governs the universe; and it is generally admitted that this intelligence is the eternal Mind or divine Principle, Love.
SH 503:20, 28
Immortal and divine Mind presents the idea of God: first, in light; second, in reflection; third, in spiritual and immortal forms of beauty and goodness. But this Mind creates no element nor symbol of discord and decay. God creates neither erring thought, mortal life, mutable truth, nor variable love. ...
God, Spirit, dwelling in infinite light and harmony from which emanates the true idea, is never reflected by aught but the good.SH 94:1–3
Jesus taught but one God, one Spirit, who makes man in the image and likeness of Himself, — of Spirit, not of matter.
SH 273:3
The physical senses can take no cognizance of God and spiritual Truth. Human belief has sought out many inventions, but not one of them can solve the problem of being without the divine Principle of divine Science. Deductions from material hypotheses are not scientific. They differ from real Science because they are not based on the divine law.
SH 171:25–27
The so-called laws of matter are nothing but false beliefs that intelligence and life are present where Mind is not.
SH 306:32–2
The parent of all human discord was the Adam-dream, the deep sleep, in which originated the delusion that life and intelligence proceeded from and passed into matter.
SH 263:1–5
Mortals are egotists. They believe themselves to be independent workers, personal authors, and even privileged originators of something which Deity would not or could not create. The creations of mortal mind are material.
SH 579:15 (only, to .), 17 2nd a (only, to ,); 580:4–6 the (to ;), 21 (only, to that), 23–24 intelligence (to ,), 24 2nd that
Adam. ... a belief in intelligent matter, ... the opposite of Spirit and His creations; that which is not the image and likeness of good, but a material belief, opposed to the one Mind, or Spirit; ...
The name Adam represents the false supposition that ... intelligence passes into non-intelligence, ... that immortal Mind results in matter, and matter in mortal mind; that the one God and creator entered what He created, and then disappeared in the atheism of matter.SH 581:17 (only, to ;), 18–22 material
Babel. Self-destroying error; ... material knowledge.
The higher false knowledge builds on the basis of evidence obtained from the five corporeal senses, the more confusion ensues, and the more certain is the downfall of its structure.SH 196:1–4
If materialistic knowledge is power, it is not wisdom. It is but a blind force. Man has “sought out many inventions,” but he has not yet found it true that knowledge can save him from the dire effects of knowledge.
SH 82:31–2
In a world of sin and sensuality hastening to a greater development of power, it is wise earnestly to consider whether it is the human mind or the divine Mind which is influencing one.
SH 268:1–9
IN the material world, thought has brought to light with great rapidity many useful wonders. With like activity have thought's swift pinions been rising towards the realm of the real, to the spiritual cause of those lower things which give impulse to inquiry. Belief in a material basis, from which may be deduced all rationality, is slowly yielding to the idea of a metaphysical basis, looking away from matter to Mind as the cause of every effect.
SH 309:24–26
The Science of being shows it to be impossible for infinite Spirit or Soul to be in a finite body or for man to have an intelligence separate from his Maker.
SH 273:16–28
The so-called laws of matter and of medical science have never made mortals whole, harmonious, and immortal. Man is harmonious when governed by Soul. Hence the importance of understanding the truth of being, which reveals the laws of spiritual existence.
God never ordained a material law to annul the spiritual law. If there were such a material law, it would oppose the supremacy of Spirit, God, and impugn the wisdom of the creator. 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.SH 313:23–26; 314:8
Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that ever trod the globe. He plunged beneath the material surface of things, and found the spiritual cause. ... Our Master gained the solution of being, demonstrating the existence of but one Mind without a second or equal.
SH 136:1–6
Jesus established his church and maintained his mission on a spiritual foundation of Christ-healing. He taught his followers that his religion had a divine Principle, which would cast out error and heal both the sick and the sinning. He claimed no intelligence, action, nor life separate from God.
SH 469:8 Intelligence
... Intelligence is omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. It is the primal and eternal quality of infinite Mind, of the triune Principle, — Life, Truth, and Love, — named God.
SH 468:9–10 There
... There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter.
SH 222:31–2 (to not); 223:3, 7–9 God
We must destroy the false belief that life and intelligence are in matter, and plant ourselves upon what is pure and perfect. Paul said, “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not ... Sooner or later we shall learn that the fetters of man's finite capacity are forged by the illusion that he lives in body instead of in Soul, in matter instead of in Spirit.
... God is infinite omnipresent Spirit. If Spirit is all and is everywhere, what and where is matter?SH 480:26–2
The Bible declares: “All things were made by Him [the divine Word]; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” This is the eternal verity of divine Science. If sin, sickness, and death were understood as nothingness, they would disappear. As vapor melts before the sun, so evil would vanish before the reality of good. One must hide the other. How important, then, to choose good as the reality!
SH 481:9–17 (to ,), 19; 482:13–16
The various contradictions of the Science of Mind by the material senses do not change the unseen Truth, which remains forever intact. The forbidden fruit of knowledge, against which wisdom warns man, is the testimony of error, declaring existence to be at the mercy of death, and good and evil to be capable of commingling. This is the significance of the Scripture concerning this “tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” ... Human hypotheses first assume the reality of sickness, sin, and death, and then assume the necessity of these evils because of their admitted actuality. These human verdicts are the procurers of all discord. ...
Question. — Is it important to understand these explanations in order to heal the sick?
Answer. — It is, since Christ is “the way” and the truth casting out all error.SH 473:10–12
Christ is the ideal Truth, that comes to heal sickness and sin through Christian Science, and attributes all power to God.
SH 482:27
Error will not expel error. Christian Science is the law of Truth, which heals the sick on the basis of the one Mind or God. It can heal in no other way, since the human, mortal mind so-called is not a healer, but causes the belief in disease.
SH 467:3–4 The (to This), 5–10, 13
... The first demand of this Science is, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” This ... Therefore the command means this: Thou shalt have no intelligence, no life, no substance, no truth, no love, but that which is spiritual. The second is like unto it, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love. ... Having no other gods, turning to no other but the one perfect Mind to guide him, man is the likeness of God, pure and eternal, having that Mind which was also in Christ.
SH 326:3–5
If we wish to follow Christ, Truth, it must be in the way of God's appointing. Jesus said, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also.”
SH 510:9
Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose “light shall we see light;” and this illumination is reflected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn away from a false material sense.
SH 20:27
St. Paul wrote, “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us;” that is, let us put aside material self and sense, and seek the divine Principle and Science of all healing.
SH 367:17
A Christian Scientist occupies the place at this period of which Jesus spoke to his disciples, when he said: “Ye are the salt of the earth.” “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” Let us watch, work, and pray that this salt lose not its saltness, and that this light be not hid, but radiate and glow into noontide glory.
Christian Science Hymnals
Hymn. 600
Who was that man in Galilee, / Healing and teaching beside the sea? / What was the power that made him strong? / How can we learn to sing his song?
He told us, / I am the light of the world, / I am the light of the world, / So follow me and shine out / For I am the light of the world!
Why are we here, and who are we? / What is his purpose for you and me? / Our little light seems small and dim / Next to the blaze that comes from him!
He told us, / You are the salt of the earth, / You are the light of the world. / So follow me and shine out / For you are the light of the world!
Christ is the light with which we shine, / Lit from within by this love divine. / Step out with courage, dare to go, / Give from the heart the love you know.
He told us, / We are the salt of the earth, / We are the light of the world. / We follow him and shine out / For Christ is the light of the world!Words: Fenella Bennetts and Robert Witney
Music: Andrew D. Brewis
Hymn. 352
Thy works, how beauteous, how divine, / That in true meekness used to shine, / That lit thy lonely pathway, trod / In wondrous love, O Son of God.
O, who like thee so calm, so bright, / So pure, so made to live in light? / O, who like thee did ever go / So patient through a world of woe?
O, who like thee so humbly bore / Scorn and the scoffs of men, before? / So meek, forgiving, Godlike, high, / So glorious in humility.
O, in thy light be mine to go, / Let it illume my way of woe / And give me ever on the road / To trace thy footsteps, Son of God.Words: Arthur C. Coxe, adapted
Music: Henry K. Oliver
Hymn. 521
Let there be peace on earth, / and let it begin with me. / Let there be peace on earth, / the peace that was meant to be. / With God our creator, we are family. / Let us walk with each other / in perfect harmony.
Let peace begin with me; let this / be the moment now. / With every step I take, let this / be my solemn vow: / To take each moment and live each / moment in peace eternally! / Let there be peace on earth, / and let it begin with me.Words: Jill Jackson, alt.
Music: Sy Miller; harm. Charles H. Webb