Seems like the lesson wanders a bit… seems like is it is saying substance is manifest through works. I thought you worked, and then you earned substance… anyway, Spirit, substance is a more heavenly thing - to be brought back to earth to do works seems counter-productive.
A T M
404 posts
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Location: n.a.
03/11/2014 06:17
Re: Substance and works?
Wouldn't life be awful if we had to wait for this heavenly substance? I want it now!
Isn't this the prize Paul speaks of - running the race to have the very substance of Christ reflected within? Striving to put off sin and error in my experience requires me to work. My faith in God requires that I stand with Him, Principle, even when it is uncomfortable. Abraham was in the act of sacrificing Isaac, Rehab protected Moses' spies and Rebekah helped Jacob steal Esau's blessing. Put your money where your prayer chair heart is.
Have faith your real identity includes the wisdom needed for daily your daily work. All things are working together for good, God.
Andrew
1128 posts
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Location: n.a.
03/11/2014 08:05
Re: Substance and works?
Striving to put off sin and error in my experience requires me to work.
The works referred to in James are not "Work out your own salvation"…
How about this: if we are reflection but do not meet the need of our brother, perhaps we are not reflection at all, no matter how holy we may feel - nor are we substance! no faith, no wisdom, just self-deceived, without substance!! Jesus is our highest example.
parthens
101 posts
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Location: n.a.
03/11/2014 13:09
Re: Substance and works?
"... substance is manifest through works."
Mrs. Eddy, in Miscellany, 287:19-288:2 - "Philanthropy is loving, ameliorative, revolutionary; it wakens lofty desires, new possibilities, achievements, and energies; it lays the axe at the root of the tree that bringeth not forth good fruit; it touches thought to spiritual issues, systematizes action, and insures success; it starts the wheels of right reason, revelation, justice, and mercy; it unselfs men and pushes on the ages."
Note especially the verbs above, all deeply related to working and works -- ceaseless, inspired, revolutionary spiritual activity, spiritual warfare, with one goal in mind: to bring heaven to earth, showing us that Spirit/Substance is practical:
"... it wakens ... lays the axe at the root [of evil]... touches thought to spiritual [that is, substantial] issues ... systematizes action ... insures success ... starts the wheels ... unselfs men ... pushes on."
Philanthropy (according to Webster's 1828 Dictionary) -- "The love of mankind; benevolence towards the whole human family; universal good will. It differs from friendship, as the latter is an affection for individuals."
Spirit, understood as Substance, is not static; it is bracing, invigorating, and enthusiastic (a word derived from the Latin phrase "En theos" meaning "in God") for it involves "lofty desires, new possibilities, achievements, and energies" -- all having to do with working the works of Christ continually, as Mr. Carpenter put it: "the willingness to forget self and one's own desires, in order to help others. This means to be willing to be in service twenty-four hours a day, with no vacation from God and His work."
Substance makes real -- or "substantializes" -- "things that are hoped for," and "calls those things that be not as though they were" (Heb. 11:1, Rom. 4:27). This is the might of Spirit understood as Substance, actuating each of us to reflect the grace of God on earth, here and now, more and more mightily, more and more humbly, more and more hopefully -- every moment a moment of progress -- that Mrs. Eddy's vision of a whole world liberated from materialism be fulfilled, with flying colors!
Edited by parthens - 03/11/2014 13:11
jacob45
370 posts
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Location: puerto limon Costa Rica
03/11/2014 22:01
Re: Substance and works?
I wish I could fix all the evils of the world, feed and heal it all....but wait, I can see as God sees...no lack, no needs....
That would be a treatment for the world´s needs?
What the world needs then is not material assistance of any sort, but to be freed from this malicious mortal mind, the hypnotizer and the hypnotized, the dream and the dreamer.
Maybe faith is substance and the solution to all needs? To know the Truth, to realize Love´s Allness, could that be the works that are needed?
Just thinking aloud. Yes, I indulge in charity, meaning money. But it never can really change anything, just like medicine, it is at best a temporary stop gap solution.
A T M
404 posts
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Location: n.a.
03/12/2014 06:05
Re: Substance and works?
What the world needs then is not material assistance of any sort, but to be freed from this malicious mortal mind, the hypnotizer and the hypnotized, the dream and the dreamer.
Maybe faith is substance and the solution to all needs? To know the Truth, to realize Love´s Allness, could that be the works that are needed?
I'll take a stab at this one: not all cases are the same so we must listen for Wisdom's advice. Speaking from personal experience and a situation I am in presently, I am constantly making mental demands on Truth and Love in the face of mesmerism. As I stand with Principle, I maybe required to act and say or do something to break the mesmerism and clear the atmosphere. To simply know the Truth and ignore the action steps demanded of me, would be disobedient. So our job is hold on to Truth and listen for God's direction. He is in control and my Faith in that will not waiver.
