Readings for January 5th, 2021

From The Bible

Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. ...

For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. ...

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
(Psalms 90:1, 2, 4, 12)

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
(Psalms 51:10)

... give ear unto my prayer, ...

Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. ...

... I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
(Psalms 17:1 give (to 4th ,), 5, 15 2nd I)

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. ...

... ¶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: ...

So God created man in his own image, ... male and female created he them. And God blessed them, ...

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, ... it was very good. ...

But there went up a mist from the earth, ...

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 caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: ...

And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? ...

And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

... And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
(Genesis 1:1, 26 (to :), 27 (to ,), 27 male, 28 (to 1st ,), 31 (to 2nd ,), 31 it (to 1st .); 2:6 (to ,), 16 (to 2nd ,), 17 of (to :), 21 (to :); 3:9, 12, 13 2nd And)

Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. ...

For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: ...

Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. ...

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
(Ephesians 5:6, 8, 10, 14)

And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. ...

The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. ...

And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. ...

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, ...

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
(I Corinthians 15:45, 47, 49, 51, 52 (to 2nd ,), 53)

¶ And Jesus went about all Galilee, ... healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. ...

And seeing the multitudes, ...

... he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, ...

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. ...

... ¶ No man can serve two masters: ... Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
(Matthew 4:23 (to 1st ,), 23 healing; 5:1 (to 1st ,), 2 he; 6:22, 23 (to .), 24 (to :), 24 Ye)

And he ... said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? ...

... if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. ...

No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.
(Mark 3:23 (to he), 23 said, 25 if, 27)

... no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.
(Luke 5:37 no, 38 )

¶ And he spake this parable unto them, saying, ...

... what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. ...

... ¶ And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. ...

And not many days after the younger son ... took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, ... he began to be in want. ...

And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: ...

And when he came to himself, ...

... he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, ...

... bring hither the fatted calf, ... and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. ...
(Luke 15:3, 8 what, 9, 11, 12 (to 1st .), 13 (to son), 13 took, 14 (to ,), 14 2nd he, 16 (to :), 17 (to 1st ,), 20–22 he (to 1st ,), 23 bring (to 1st ,), 23 3rd and, 24 (to 1st .))

¶ While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. ...

And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.
(Matthew 9:18, 23–26)

¶ Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
(John 8:12)

There is one body, and one Spirit, ...

One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. ...

If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, ...

... put off concerning the former conversation the old man, ...

And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
(Ephesians 4:4 (to 2nd ,), 6, 7, 21 (to 2nd ,), 22 put (to ,), 23, 24)

... if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
(II Corinthians 5:17 if)

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, ...

... Behold, I make all things new. ...
(Revelation 1:8 (to 3rd ,); 21:5 Behold (to 1st .))

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

(Genesis i. 1. )

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

The infinite has no beginning. This word beginning is employed to signify the only, — that is, the eternal verity and unity of God and man, including the universe.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 502:22–27)

Man is not the offspring of flesh, but of Spirit, — of Life, not of matter. Because Life is God, Life must be eternal, self-existent. Life is the everlasting I AM, the Being who was and is and shall be, whom nothing can erase.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 289:31)

The objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded. This unfolding is God's day, ...
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 584:4–7 (to ,))

Genesis ii. 6. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

... The second chapter of Genesis contains a statement of this material view of God and the universe, a statement which is the exact opposite of scientific truth as before recorded. ...

... The first record assigns all might and government to God, and endows man out of God's perfection and power. The second record chronicles man as mutable and mortal, ...
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 521:21, 26–29; 522:5–8 (to ,))

We should look away from the opposite supposition that man is created materially, and turn our gaze to the spiritual record of creation, ...
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 521:12–15 We (to ,))

In the illusion of life that is here to-day and gone to-morrow, man would be wholly mortal, were it not that Love, the divine Principle that obtains in divine Science, destroys all error and brings immortality to light. Because man is the reflection of his Maker, he is not subject to birth, growth, maturity, decay. These mortal dreams are of human origin, not divine.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 305:22)

Divine Science rolls back the clouds of error with the light of Truth, and lifts the curtain on man as never born and as never dying, but as coexistent with his creator.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 557:18)

Truth makes a new creature, in whom old things pass away and “all things are become new.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 201:7–9 Truth)

Let the “male and female” of God's creating appear. Let us feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life and recognizing no mortal nor material power as able to destroy. ... Such is the true Science of being.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 249:5–8, 10 (only))

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.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 20:27)

The real man being linked by Science to his Maker, mortals need only turn from sin and lose sight of mortal selfhood to find Christ, the real man and his relation to God, and to recognize the divine sonship.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 316:3–7)

When we put off the false sense for the true, and see that sin and mortality have neither Principle nor permanency, we shall learn that sin and mortality are without actual origin or rightful existence. They are native nothingness, out of which error would simulate creation through a man formed from dust.

Divine Science does not put new wine into old bottles, Soul into matter, nor the infinite into the finite. Our false views of matter perish as we grasp the facts of Spirit. The old belief must be cast out or the new idea will be spilled, and the inspiration, which is to change our standpoint, will be lost. Now, as of old, Truth casts out evils and heals the sick.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 281:20–2)

We cannot build safely on false foundations. Truth makes a new creature, in whom old things pass away and “all things are become new.” Passions, selfishness, false appetites, hatred, fear, all sensuality, yield to spirituality, and the superabundance of being is on the side of God, good.

We cannot fill vessels already full. They must first be emptied.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 201:7–14 (to 1st .))

Our Master asked: “How can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man?” In other words: How can I heal the body, without beginning with so-called mortal mind, which directly controls the body? ... Mortal mind is “the strong man,” which must be held in subjection before its influence upon health and morals can be removed. This error conquered, we can despoil “the strong man” of his goods, — namely, of sin and disease.

Mortals obtain the harmony of health, only as they forsake discord, acknowledge the supremacy of divine Mind, and abandon their material beliefs. ... By lifting thought above error, or disease, and contending persistently for truth, you destroy error.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 399:29–1; 400:4–11, 18)

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)

Systematic teaching and the student's spiritual growth and experience in practice are requisite for a thorough comprehension of Christian Science. ...

If the student goes away to practise Truth's teachings only in part, dividing his interests between God and mammon and substituting his own views for Truth, he will inevitably reap the error he sows. Whoever would demonstrate the healing of Christian Science must abide strictly by its rules, heed every statement, and advance from the rudiments laid down.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 461:31–1; 462:9–15)

The foundation of mortal discord is a false sense of man's origin. To begin rightly is to end rightly. ... Divine Mind is the only cause or Principle of existence. Cause does not exist in matter, in mortal mind, or in physical forms.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 262:27–28 (to 2nd .), 30)

Every function of the real man is governed by the divine Mind. The human mind has no power to kill or to cure, and it has no control over God's man. The divine Mind that made man maintains His own image and likeness. The human mind is opposed to God and must be put off, as St. Paul declares. All that really exists is the divine Mind and its idea, and in this Mind the entire being is found harmonious and eternal. The straight and narrow way is to see and acknowledge this fact, yield to this power, and follow the leadings of truth.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 151:20)

Progress is born of experience. It is the ripening of mortal man, through which the mortal is dropped for the immortal. Either here or hereafter, suffering or Science must destroy all illusions regarding life and mind, and regenerate material sense and self. The old man with his deeds must be put off. ... The death of a false material sense and of sin, not the death of organic matter, is what reveals man and Life, harmonious, real, and eternal.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 296:4–9 (to 2nd .), 10 The)

Man in Science is neither young nor old. He has neither birth nor death.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 244:23–24)

The infinite never began nor will it ever end. ... Man is not a pendulum, swinging between evil and good, joy and sorrow, sickness and health, life and death. Life and its faculties are not measured by calendars. The perfect and immortal are the eternal likeness of their Maker. ...

... Manhood is its eternal noon, undimmed by a declining sun. ...

... Chronological data are no part of the vast forever. ... Each succeeding year unfolds wisdom, beauty, and holiness.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 245:32 (only); 246:1–6, 12–13, 17–18 Chronological, 25)

Life is real, and death is the illusion. A demonstration of the facts of Soul in Jesus' way resolves the dark visions of material sense into harmony and immortality. ... To divest thought of false trusts and material evidences in order that the spiritual facts of being may appear, — this is the great attainment by means of which we shall sweep away the false and give place to the true. Thus we may establish in truth the temple, or body, “whose builder and maker is God.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 428:3–6, 8)

Good demands of man every hour, in which to work out the problem of being. ... By putting “off the old man with his deeds,” mortals “put on immortality.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 261:32–1; 262:7)

The Bible teaches transformation of the body by the renewal of Spirit.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 241:13–14)

THE TEXTBOOK HEALED ME

For twelve years previous to the fall of 1897 I had been under the care of a physician much of the time. Different opinions were given by them, as to the nature of the trouble, some diagnosing it as an abnormal growth, etc. I was healed through reading “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mrs. Eddy. It was a clear case of transformation of the body by the renewal of the mind. I am perfectly well at the present time. — J. M. H., Omaha, Neb.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 628:17–26)

O Life that maketh all things new, / The blooming earth, the thoughts of men; / Our pilgrim feet, wet with Thy dew, / In gladness hither turn again.

Hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal

Hymn No. 218
From hand to hand the greeting flows, / From eye to eye the signals run, / From heart to heart the bright hope glows, / The seekers of the Light are one:

One in the freedom of the truth, / One in the joy of paths untrod, / One in the heart's perennial youth, / One in the larger thought of God;—

The freer step, the fuller breath, / The wide horizon's grander view; / The sense of Life that knows no death,— / The Life that maketh all things new.

Hymn No. 437
All my hope on God is founded; / Day by day my trust is new. / Through the trials of life He guides me, / Only good and only true. / God alone, dearly known, / Calls my heart to be His own.

Earthly treasures, pride and glory, / Human power and worldly trust, / Though with care and toil are builded, / In the end will fall to dust. / But God's power, hour by hour, / Is my temple and my tower.

Daily does th'almighty Giver / Bounteous gifts on us bestow. / Love's desire our soul delighteth, / Joy attends us where we go. / Blessings stand at God's hand, / Healing flows at Love's command.

Now from man to God eternal / Endless thanks and praise be sung. / Hearts made new are anthems raising / Through the love of Christ, His Son. / Hear God's call, one and all, / We who follow shall not fall.

Hymn No. 594
We're steadfastly protected by Your power, / Encircled in the caring arms of Love. / Together, we are sharing all our days now, / And year by year come blessings from above.

REFRAIN / We're each held safe by God's own holy power. / Whatever comes, Your comfort is at hand. / You're at our side at evening and at morning, / And each new day unfolds as You have planned.

Your pure and quiet love spreads o'er us deeply; / We know Your fullness now and feel Your peace. / For Your one holy world of grace and power, / We all praise You with joy that will not cease. / / REFRAIN