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Sunday Message for June 11, 2006
God’s Assured Outcome
Within each of us is a deep need to feel that our
life has been worthwhile, that it has counted, and that somehow and in
some way the world is a little better because we have lived in it. Perhaps
the saddest lament possible is from someone who feels that his or her life
has not been worth much.
There was a story about a female humpback whale that had become entangled in
a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of
pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds
of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, and a line
tugging in her mouth.
A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farralone Islands and radioed an environmental group for help.
Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so
bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her - a very
dangerous proposition. One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer.
They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. When she
was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then
came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed gently
around-she thanked them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience
of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was
following him the whole time, and he will never be the same. He feels that
his life has been worthwhile.
THE PLAN
The truth is that every day you have ever lived will
someday fall into place – each moment will have counted for something.
This is the “judgment day” concept; and, in reality, every
day is judgment day because every day’s moments, thoughts, words,
and feelings do count.
This is all true because this universe exists for a purpose and with a plan.
We are a part of that purpose, and that plan is constantly working out its
deep design in us – and often, friends, in spite of us. But this too
is the plan. With our God-given gift of free choice, we are free at any time
to cooperate with the plan or to considerably thwart it. But we can never defeat
it, because some part of that plan is always at work in us evolving that image
God had in His mind when He created us in His likeness.
The good news is that every thought, word, and action we use in accord with
that plan (or what we call Truth) will add its increase and contribute toward
fulfilling the promise of that plan in us. In the “way
and the truth” of the Christ life, there is no grand or inferior;
there is nothing insignificant. God’s plan is built into every phase
of His creation, and the outcome is assured. This is especially good to know
right now, because we are going through a very special time of change – a
world-changing quantum leap
– from within.
THE WORLD
Much is still on the invisible side, but new energies
are now in action. On the inner plane, powerful forces are breaking up
old patterns and inspiring accelerated revisions in human thinking that
will elevate the consciousness of all and help bring forth a new age. Yet
the effects of this monumental inner reformation are beginning to be felt
everywhere – from changes in the international scene, right down
the line to every individual. Changes in the nation, economy, weather,
and church are increasing drastically, and they’re affecting everyone.
In order to make room for the consciousness of the new age, old and often cherished
concepts are being put away. Because we’re in the midst of this dramatic
transformation, this is a time of uncertainty. Almost everyone seems to be
somewhat restless or even troubled. If you’re having uneasy or disturbing
feelings and experiences, remember that you’re not alone. The whole world
is going through this change, and it’s just the dark before a great dawn
with an assured outcome.
SCIENCE
Before we talk about how to incorporate these energies
into our lives and cooperate with the plan behind them, let me establish
two things for background. First, I’d like to convince all of us
(at least intellectually) that great changes in human life not only can
happen but already have. We’re still in the dynamics of such a change
brought about by what we call science. Science has come close to being
our God in the sense that we’ve accepted it, believed in it, and
come to depend on it for much of our health, wealth, happiness, and security.
Science has come to rule our world, and for about three decades the balance
of world power has hinged on our daily progress in science. Science, of
course, is only a body of knowledge or a system of gathering knowledge.
It disciplines itself (very rigidly) to observing only what is seen, felt,
weighed, and measured, continually exploring and testing new things, no
matter where they lead. Therefore, science has maintained a marvelous quality
of progress that has never existed in religion.
In science, dogma and doctrine have been replaced (or transcended) by a self-correcting,
ever-changing quest for objective fact. We’ve been living in a dynamic
scientific revolution. One half of all the discoveries and inventions from
the beginning of human history have been made in the past fifty years – they’ve
doubled every ten years.
In the first beatitude, (Matthew 5:3) "Blessed are the poor in spirit," Jesus told us that in order to advance, we must
be willing to “die” to old concepts so that we can be reborn to
new ideas.
The first major change in scientific thinking was the new idea that the Earth
is a sphere that rotates around the sun. We finally died to the old concept
that the Earth was flat and the fixed center of the universe. For example,
the old theory, based on the flat-Earth concept, once stated that the
“sun stood still,” which is of course how it would have appeared.
But we now know it’s the Earth which moves, not the sun.
The great breakthrough directly involved uncertainty. It was Heisenburg’s “Principle
of Uncertainty” by which we finally learned (just as Jesus had said)
that we are not to judge by appearances, that we cannot really trust what we
see and feel and measure with our five senses. We once believed that we lived
in a fixed, rigid universe of solid objects existing in vast oceans of nothingness.
Instead, we live in a dynamic, alive, moving, ever-changing universe that will
not “stand still” to be measured – with the uncertainty being
that, if we concentrate our attention on one thing, we lose our perspective
about everything else. But, rather ironically, this apparent limitation to
the understanding we used to have, which was probably confusing and disturbing
at first, actually introduced us into the nuclear age. For this new concept
made it possible for Einstein to formulate the Theory of Relativity and give
us a new cosmic understanding of the universe.
Relativity means the relatedness of all things, the system of cooperation by
which everything in the universe is related in an ultimate unity. This is a
universe of many dimensions, expressed in infinite variations; as Jesus said,
(John 14:2) “In my Father's house there are many rooms.” All things are from but one substance – radiant
energy – containing one intelligence, one purpose, one plan, one creative,
directing motive-force ever evolving toward a cosmic wholeness.
In other words, we have discovered that this is a holistic or whole-producing
universe in which two things always produce a third thing that is greater than
the sum of the original parts. This is the scientific discovery of what Unity
teaches: one Presence, one Power, one essential Nature – Good –
bringing all things right and working all things together for good in a unity
of love. This revolutionary scientific discovery also led us to discover more
of the mysteries of the universe, not only in the vastness we can observe in
outer space or the without, but within, to the tiniest of things, so small
it can’t be seen – the atom, and the quark.
God always works from the “small.”
Everything in His universe is as great in miniature as in magnitude – there
is no less. From this we learned
that there is a within as well as a without to life, and the within gives rise
to the without according to strict, dependable rules. Emerson once said, “God’s dice are
loaded (for Good)”. But Einstein said, “God doesn’t place dice.” Nothing
is left to chance. Everything works from center to circumference, from the
within to the without, under a direct relationship between cause and effect,
the high vision of an infallible creation.
The scientific knowledge of the last fifty years has collapsed the old “three-decker” concept
of the universe (of Earth here, heaven up there, and hell down there) around
which many people still base their religious beliefs. In ways that would defy
the wonders and dreams of our ancestors, it has rolled back a lot of darkness
and drastically changed the course of civilization by giving us an entirely
new working understanding of the inner activities of our physical universe.
Here is where science leaves off; and I suppose it should, for this is not
an essentially physical universe – it’s a spiritual universe.
We’ve done three talks about Jesus’ spiritual concepts of the universe – His
explanation of the inner workings of creation that He called the kingdom of
God, the infinite realm of God’s spiritual essence, above and beyond
our world of time and space yet ever-present, permeating everything – eternally
at hand and within. Jesus plainly stated that, (Luke 17:21) “The kingdom of God is within you" – meaning an inner domain of expanding spiritual
potential. He told us that the kingdom comes by letting God’s spiritual
influence increasingly come into our minds and hearts, and work in our lives.
The greatest discovery in the universe is that God is all there is and that
we were created in God to express what God is. We are now incomplete, from
an earthly point of view. Yet, everyone is a spiritual being, a child of God,
created with the potential of expressing the nature of the Father.
JESUS
The second part of helpful background information
is to understand what Jesus meant when He said, (Matthew 13:31) “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed.” What a beautifully simple yet profound way
to introduce us to our own destiny and God’s assured outcome of what
He created us to be.
A seed is something small that can grow to incredible proportions because of
the hidden potential wrapped up in it waiting to be awakened. Some of the most
majestic forces in the universe are called in to make a tiny mustard seed grow.
A seed, any seed, is a center of energy, a sleeping bundle of creativity. All
we have to do is plant it and help make sure it has a chance to grow. And then,
by natural sequence the seed unfolds and develops from its center by the law
of life, which is growth. This great principle is the key to the mystery of
all life.
Jesus was constantly telling and showing us that the truly important things
in life start seed-small and unfold by orderly growth from the little seed
to a bountiful harvest. God’s assured outcomes, which are the real miracles
of the universe, are locked and sealed into every tiny seed.
And this, perhaps, is the greatest wonder of all. Each seed not only contains
the potential to grow from infinitesimal beginnings to a magnificent harvest,
but each seed also contains a built-in pattern – perfection – that
is the promise of its fulfillment of what God intended it to be. A mustard
seed will always become a mustard plant, and never anything else! Acorn, rhubarb,
watermelon – every kind of seed planted and cultivated always turns out
as intended by God – the results are inevitable.
We, as any other seed, have a built-in pattern of perfection
– the Christ seed. The growth of this seed begins and proceeds in our
minds and hearts. When we let God’s influence into our consciousness,
even as the smallest seed of Truth, the leavening power of His nature in us
can expand, uplift, and transform our lives. The quickened spiritual influence
is irrepressible. Emerson was right when he said, “God’s
dice are loaded,” in that that which is good grows – slowly
perhaps, but everything counts!
Every day, by unfailing law, every good, positive, constructive thought, word,
or deed of your life produces after its kind and has an influence and a destiny
beyond itself. What a difference a little faith, gratitude, patience, tolerance,
understanding, love, and prayer can make. What a difference one little breakthrough
can make in evolving everyone to a new higher level. What a difference any
little improvement can make in our own personal consciousness – one positive,
loving thought can transmute thousands that have been negative.
A young boy won an art prize in an exhibit, and when
someone congratulated him on having such a good picture, he said, “It
isn’t my best drawing.”
When he was asked why he hadn’t exhibited his best drawing, he answered,
“Oh, my best drawing isn’t
drawn yet.”
The boy was on his way to becoming a real artist. In you is the power to become
what God intended you to be. The attainment will come by growth. It all comes
back to the quality of the thoughts and feelings that you chose to entertain
and maintain in your consciousness day by day and minute by minute. Charles
Fillmore said, “All we have to do
to change our life is to start thinking along the Jesus Christ lines.”
There’s an all-powerful spiritual influence
ready at all times to help you fulfill God’s plan in you. And there
is no less. Where you are
right now is exactly the right place for you to begin the rest of eternal
life. Get started. Begin with the very next thought to align your thinking
to the Jesus Christ standard; the results are assured – inevitable.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, former priest and scientist, believed as we do
in universal unity and in God’s assured outcomes. From his The
Phenomenon of Man, we get an answer to the old gloom-and-doom
concept of a flawed humanity, “Man
is irreplaceable. Therefore, however improbable it might seem, he must reach
the goal, not necessarily, doubtless, but infallibly.”
SCRIPTURE: John 14:6; Matthew 5:3; John 14:2; Luke 17:21; Matthew 13:31
REFERENCES: Great Dramas of the Bible William Earle Cameron
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Last updated June 11, 2006
