“A certain man lame from his mother's
womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is
called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing
Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon
him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to
receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but
such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and
walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his
feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked,
and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And
all the people saw him walking and praising God:”1
The man that normally sat at
the gate of the temple asking for alms didn’t limit his good to small bits of
money or he could never have received a healing from Peter and John. He had to have an expectant heart and thought
that someday life would become better than what he was living at that
moment. He had to have expectancy of
something good because when Peter said, “Look on us. And he gave heed unto them,
expecting to receive something of them”, he had to be mentally prepared for the
grand occurrence that was about to follow.
Are we expecting good? Are
we ready for ‘better’? Are we seeing the possibility of receiving healing,
strength, an opportunity to praise God?
Or are we stuck in dark patterns of thought, followed by the same old,
same old of yesterday brought today and through to tomorrow? What are we expecting?
We must lift our lives
through our thinking. We must decided
that Good is here. We have to change our
view from the depressing, dismal, uselessness in our thoughts to higher views
of Good, being ever-present and ever available.
This will bring on a better Now. In other words, we have to start
expecting Good to get Good. How else could that beggar be lifted out of
his circumstances into healing and praise?
We have to prepare our thoughts for better by expecting and thinking
better.
Every time we are tempted to
grumble or think that things are bad we need to change our thought from
disgruntled to grateful. Every time we feel sad and lonely we must be ready to
give instead of ‘get’. Every time we
feel uncomfortable, lazy, apathetic we need to turn our thoughts to sharing
comfort, energizing our days by giving good, and getting excited about the
opportunity to make other’s lives happier.
A person that expects Good
is a person that looks for and doesn’t miss the opportunity to give good. A person that expects is the one that gains.
So let us turn our lives
around by first turning our thoughts around.
“Through the love of God our Saviour
a
ll will be well;
Free and changeless is His favor;
All must be well;
Precious is the Love that healed us,
Perfect is the grace that sealed us,
Strong the hand stretched forth to
shield us;
All, all is well.
Though we pass through tribulation,
All will be well;
Ours is such a full salvation,
All must be well;
Happy still, in God confiding,
Fruitful, when in Christ abiding,
Holy, through the Spirit's guiding;
All, all is well.
We expect a bright tomorrow,
All will be well;
Faith can sing through days
of sorrow,
All must be well;
While His truth we are
applying,
And upon His love relying,
God is every need supplying,
All, all is well.”2
Expect Good and receive Greatness!
Gentle hug
1 The Acts of the Apostles chapter 3 vs.
2-9 from the King James Version of The Holy Bible
2 Christian Science Hymnal No. 350
With
Easter week and all of its plastic and chocolate eggs upon us, it is surprising
that The King James Version of The Holy Bible only uses the word “Easter” once. Until one realizes that Easter wasn’t Easter
until the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ Jesus. There was no need for
the word to be used before that consecrated act of Love.
The
real shock when the word “Easter” is found used, in The Act of the Apostles
chapter 12 verse 4, wasn’t in reverence and holiness, but as a holding pattern
for murder and crowd and self appeasement!
At
the time it was mentioned Herod had already cut off the head of James, the
brother of John, two of Christ Jesus’ disciples, and was holding Peter in
prison for the same event. But the time was the Passover and Herod had to wait
till after Easter to commence his murderous activity. Herod’s delight in appeasing the Jews and
their desire of this monstrous practice of taking hold of Jesus’ apostles and
brutally killing them with not an axe but a sword, cutting off their heads as
they did John the Baptist, had to wait until after Easter. The incongruity of the two different
celebrations has a vast chasm between the Holiness of the time of Easter and
the heinous desire to execute the followers of the Christ.
The
one next in line for this beheading was Peter.
He was sitting in prison awaiting his fate. He had two chains holding him, two soldiers
on either side of him, and the keepers before the door of the prison. So what does he do? Wale, whine, moan, ‘rent his clothes’, get over
rot to the point of throwing up? No, he
sings, prays and at night he sleeps. He
and his group pray without ceasing unto God for him. He seems to be the very
picture of peace, stillness and trust.
Had the Easter event of Christ Jesus given to Peter a trust that was
higher than the evidences and threats of personal harm, even death? Was this
trust justified?
It
would seem so because in the middle of the night an ‘angel of the Lord came
upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and
raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly.
And his chains fell off from his hands.
And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And
so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast
thy garment about thee, and follow me.’1
Peter
was quite surprised by all of this Divine Activity that when ‘he went out, and
followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angle; but
thought he saw a vision. When they were past the first and the second ward,
they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them
of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and
forthwith the angel departed from him.
And when Peter was come to himself, he said, NOW I KNOW of a surety,
that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of
Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.’2
Now
the question begs for an answer…why would one turn to bunnies and plastic eggs
and the fan fair of Hallmark and ham, when one can celebrate the power of Easter
that is Divine?
“The
highest earthly representative of God, speaking of human ability to reflect
divine power, prophetically said to his disciples, speaking not for their day
only but for all time: ‘He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he
do also;’ and ‘These signs shall follow them that believe.’ 3
“Now,
as then, these mighty works are not supernatural, but supremely natural. They are the sign of Immanuel, or ‘God with
us,’—a divine influence ever present in human consciousness and repeating
itself, coming now as was promised aforetime,
To preach deliverance to the captives
[of sense],
And recovering of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty them that are
bruised.”4
Through
the life and works of Christ Jesus and the discovery of Christian Science we
also can, through more consecrated lives, demonstrate healing works with ‘signs
following them that believe.’ We can
turn our lives into higher demonstrations of ‘Immanuel, God with us’ and bring
humanity up higher than the nonsense of trivial celebrations into the ‘newness
of life’ as powerful manifestation of the Christ-activity.
Let
us throw away the heinous act of imprisoning ourselves from this Christ
activity and learn HOW to demonstrate it.
It is our birthright as the Children of God.
Gentle hug
1
The
King James Version of the Acts of the Apostles chapter 12 verses 1-11
2
Ibid
3
Science
and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy page 52 lines 23-28
4
Ibid
page Xi lines 14-21
