Listen/Download Audio of The Living Bible
Remember that the Bible is a story about you. The printed Bible is a testimony concerning man, who is the living Bible. It is the story of his inner experiences. The printed Bible is a record of the word of God. The living Word was made flesh and it dwells in you.
All the objects, places, persons, and incidents mentioned in the Bible are symbolic descriptions of you. They refer to states of consciousness and hidden experiences that are within you and every other individual in the world. All that is written in the Bible is the record of your spiritual progress. It explains man’s journey away from God into a far country of doubt, hate, and trouble, and his struggle to return to his Father’s house, where all is faith, love, and happiness.
We are all on our way back to the Father’s house. The Bible shows us the way through Christ, who is within us, saying to us: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” In the Bible you will find the story of your inner struggles, your overcomings, your weaknesses, your mistakes, and your victories.
When you understand the Bible in its true character it will no longer be just a book of history about people who lived in the past. It will become a guide for you to follow in dealing with the thoughts of your own mind and your daily problems. When you read the Bible with understanding its characters will no longer be merely men who lived in ancient times; they will become to you symbols of your living thoughts, feelings, desires, and religious experiences. Jesus Christ will no longer be a faraway Son of God who lived two thousand years ago. He will become a living part of you. The Bible should be read in the spirit and not in the letter. Paul said: “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
Your mind, which includes three departments, conscious, subconscious, and superconscious, is a vast and unexplored domain. The Bible is a guide that will help you explore this inner domain. The Bible reveals the truth that the invisible principles of life are more important than the things in the material world.
Paul tells us that the things that are seen were not made of things that appear. Love, intelligence, power, and substance are a few of the underlying principles of life. They are shown forth in manifestation as a vast universe of stars, nearly two billion men and women, countless growing things, animals, material substances, sunshine, rain. As the hands on the dial of a visible clock reveal the passing of invisible hours, so do things in the material world indicate the existence of invisible spiritual principles.
We cannot see love with our physical eyes, but we can see what love does in the world. Love, life, substance, and the other elements that are finding expression in and through our physical body are the result of the activity of one or more of the great divine principles in the realm of cause. These material manifestations of God’s principles are holy, and they should be touched by men with reverence, praise, and righteousness.
In order to understand the living Bible we must awaken our spiritual perception and quicken our faith in God. Faith is the inner eye of the mind, and it sees beyond the things that are revealed by the five senses. It is through faith that we find God, not through our senses of seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and tasting. Through faith we understand that life is eternal and that substance, love, intelligence, and joy are omnipresent, as near to us and as real as the principles of mathematics and gravity.
The connecting link between you and God is your mind. Therefore when you lift up your mind toward God by having faith in Him and by loving Him and thinking the highest, purest thoughts you can think, you begin to establish your conscious unity with Him. God is very near to you. As you draw nearer to Him in thought He draws nearer to your understanding.
You cannot really go away from God, but you can turn your thoughts away from Him and when you do so it may seem to you that God is not with you any more. But you cannot really lose Him. Without Him you would have no life, no joy, no love, no substance, no power. Turn to Him in spirit and in truth and accept His blessings in their fullness. When you seek God, the fountainhead of all good, and stop searching in the mud puddles of worldly ideals for your happiness you will begin to realize the joy that passes understanding.
Happiness as a principle exists eternally in the mind of God. The Bible tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength. This joy is with us all the time, but we must be willing to accept it as coming from God. When we believe in it and accept it as a present gift from God it will thrill us with its power.
The printed Bible is a testimony of Christ, the Word of God, concerning us. Jesus Christ said that the Scriptures bore testimony of Him, and they still bear testimony of Him today. They bear witness of the living Christ in you and in me.
What you fix your attention upon influences your life. If you are looking among the graven images of the material world for your inspiration you will limit your vision to things as they seem to be. Look up to the hills of Spirit for your inspiration and you will see things as they are, good, beautiful, and perfect. When you look to God for your inspiration you will make contact with the most powerful dynamo that ever existed, the power that runs the universe.
When you think of God praise Him and give thanks for His goodness. This attitude will open the way for a greater understanding and enjoyment of all His spiritual blessings. Know that “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” Take God with you and you will find Him everywhere you go.
SUGGESTIONS FOR DAILY MEDITATION
SUNDAY: The word of God indwells in me. It is my life.
MONDAY: Christ in me is saying: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”
TUESDAY: The divine principles of love, life, wisdom, and substance are now finding free expression through me.
WEDNESDAY: My eye of faith reveals to me God’s true nature dwelling in me.
THURSDAY: The joy of the Lord is my strength.
FRIDAY: “Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? . . . (and the scripture cannot be broken).”
SATURDAY: The Scriptures testify concerning the Christ in me.
