Decision

October 31, 2018
Hymns: 572, 258, 573
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The Bible & Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy

ISAIAH
30:21 thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

PROVERBS (Good News Translation)
3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know. Remember the Lord in everything you do, and he will show you the right way.

I KINGS
18:21-24, 26, 31-39…Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him…Then said Elijah…give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God… And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice,…And Elijah…built an altar in the name of the Lord…and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood. And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. And…Elijah…said, …Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God,…Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God.

JOSHUA
24:15…choose you this day whom ye will serve;

DEUTERONOMY
30:19 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live…”

PROVERBS
2: 2-6… incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
SH 467:3-7
The first demand of this Science is, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” This me is Spirit. Therefore the command means this: Thou shalt have no intelligence, no life, no substance, no truth, no love, but that which is spiritual.

SH 587:5
God. The great I am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence.

SH 467:13
Having no other gods, turning to no other but the one perfect Mind to guide him, man is the likeness of God, pure and eternal, having that Mind which was also in Christ.

ISAIAH
48:17 Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.

GENESIS
13:1 (to 4th, 5-6, 8-13 Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had,
Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord…and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.

PROVERBS (Amplified Bible)
16:25 There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him,
But its end is the way of death.

SH 189:18
The human mortal mind, by an inevitable perversion, makes all things start from the lowest instead of from the highest mortal thought. The reverse is the case with all the formations of the immortal divine Mind. They proceed from the divine source; and so, in tracing them, we constantly ascend in infinite being.

SH 262:28-31
To begin rightly is to end rightly. Every concept which seems to begin with the brain begins falsely. Divine Mind is the only cause or Principle of existence.

DEUTERONOMY
13:18…hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord thy God.

PSALMS
18:6,30,32 In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. …his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.
143:8 Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.

SH 7:23
The “divine ear” is not an auditory nerve. It is the all-hearing and all-knowing Mind, to whom each need of man is always known and by whom it will be supplied.

SH 1:11
Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds.

GENESIS
13:14-16 (to :),17 And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.

LUKE
12:31,32, 34…seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you….for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

SH 590:1
Kingdom of Heaven. The reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme.

SH 393:16-18
Be firm in your understanding that the divine Mind governs, and that in Science man reflects God’s government.

LUKE
22:41-44 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

SH 33:18-21
When the human element in him struggled with the divine, our great Teacher said: “Not my will, but Thine, be done!” — that is, Let not the flesh, but the Spirit, be represented in me.

SH 180:25-27
When man is governed by God, the ever-present Mind who understands all things, man knows that with God all things are possible.

SH 19:29-1
Jesus urged the commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” which may be rendered: Thou shalt have no belief of Life as mortal; thou shalt not know evil, for there is one Life, — even God, good.

JOHN
14:1,4-6 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me…And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

SH 332:9 (Christ)
Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness. The Christ is incorporeal, spiritual, — yea, the divine image and likeness, dispelling the illusions of the senses; the Way, the Truth, and the Life, healing the sick and casting out evils, destroying sin, disease, and death. As Paul says: “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” The corporeal man Jesus was human.

SH 26:10-14
The Christ was the Spirit which Jesus implied in his own statements: “I am the way, the truth, and the life;” “I and my Father are one.” This Christ, or divinity of the man Jesus, was his divine nature, the godliness which animated him.

SH vii:1-2
Jesus taught the way of Life by demonstration, that we may understand how this divine Principle heals the sick, casts out error, and triumphs over death.

ZEPHANIAH (Easy to Read Version – ERV)
3:5 the Lord…continues to help his people. Morning after morning he makes good decisions for them. Not a day passes without his justice. He never gives a decision that is crooked or is something to be ashamed of.
ROMANS (ERV)
8:6 If your thinking is controlled by your sinful self, there is spiritual death. But if your thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace.

SH 323:29-32
It is the “still, small voice” of Truth uttering itself. We are either turning away from this utterance, or we are listening to it and going up higher.

SH iii:4
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.

SH 392:22
Your decisions will master you, whichever direction they take.

SH 458:25-28
The Christian Scientist wisely shapes his course, and is honest and consistent in following the leadings of divine Mind.

SH 262:28 (only); 263:7-10
To begin rightly is to end rightly. When mortal man blends his thoughts of existence with the spiritual and works only as God works, he will no longer grope in the dark and cling to earth because he has not tasted heaven.

SH 205:32
When we fully understand our relation to the Divine, we can have no other Mind but His, — no other Love, wisdom, or Truth, no other sense of Life, and no consciousness of the existence of matter or error.

JAMES
1:5,6-8 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.

SH 360:13
Dear reader, which mind-picture or externalized thought shall be real to you, — the material or the spiritual? Both you cannot have. You are bringing out your own ideal. This ideal is either temporal or eternal. Either Spirit or matter is your model. If you try to have two models, then you practically have none. Like a pendulum in a clock, you will be thrown back and forth, striking the ribs of matter and swinging between the real and the unreal.

SH 340:9
This text in the book of Ecclesiastes conveys the Christian Science thought, especially when the word duty, which is not in the original, is omitted: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” In other words: Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: love God and keep His commandments: for this is the whole of man in His image and likeness. Divine Love is infinite. Therefore all that really exists is in and of God, and manifests His love.

SH 254:10-12
When we wait patiently on God and seek Truth righteously, He directs our path.

SUPPLEMENTAL READING
“Right Decisions”
By Milton Simon
The Christian Science Sentinel, March 1957

…”How can I know whether or not I am being guided in a right decision?” One should not first make a decision and then work to have divine Principle help him consummate what has been humanly outlined. God’s law cannot be changed to fit willful desires. If one has made a decision from the standpoint of his reflection of divine, all-inclusive Love—his present possession of every needful idea and quality of God—he will find that, instead of being victimized by mortal mind’s aggressive arguments of lack and limitation, his way is characterized by wisdom, economy, and the unopposable unfoldment of good.
It is always animal magnetism that would rush us into decisions. But we can wait until we feel confident that the finger of God is pointing out Love’s path up the mountain. Despite error’s suggestion of fruitlessness or incompleteness, we are actually accomplishing much when we quietly and firmly wait on God and listen for His voice. Our Leader invariably awaited divine guidance, and this guidance will be ours as well.
The right decisions and answers we long for are already established in divine Mind. Spiritual knowing enables us to become aware of truths that are already present. These are then externalized in right results. And a right decision is truly sought when we think less of what it will bring or do for us and more of what it will reveal to us of God’s unfailing truth and His boundless love.

MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS 65:10-11
Every question between Truth and error, Science must and will decide.