Highlighted New Testament Bible

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Thursday, October 25, 2012

St Matthew, Chpater 16, verse: 12, The Leaven: The Enlightenment

Our Paragraph topic is:  (The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees) Part 5.

Understanding was not with the disciples.  Wisdom was lost.  Knowledge was foreign.  And they themselves were without sight.  The disciples did not see.  They did not understand.  They did not know what was happening among themselves.  All they knew was that they forgot to bring leaven to make bread and this caused great strife.  They had forgotten who made the bread.  They had not understood the miracle maker and his power.  They were without the wisdom that comes from spiritual insight.  And they were being filled with the leaven that spread from the Pharisees and the Saducees.

But Christ was in their midst.  Christ was there to guide them.  Christ was there to give them sight, to instruct them in the ways of the world.  So, he had to bring them back to the reality of the spirit.  He had to warn them of the plague that was taking over.  He had to instruct them in the wisdom of past events so they would have understanding and love.   The disciples were so filled with what they considered the needs of the now that they forgot that their needs were already given to them.  And Christ had to call forth understanding that they would come back to spiritual reality.  Then they understood that he bade them beware not of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

There is a famous experiment used in psychology where several cards in a deck are altered.  A black spade becomes a red spade, a red heart becomes a black heart, etc.  The deck of cards are then flashed before a patient in shot intervals, asking the patient to identify each card before going to the next.  At short intervals the altered cards are not identified properly.  However, after each round of exposure, the interval of exposure is increased to allow more time to identify the altered cards.  As the exposure time increases most patients are able to identify the altered cards.  But there were some who, even at increased exposure times, still did not identify the altered cards.  Most people can and do understand with increased time to contemplate the internal change.  Others simply will not make the adjustments necessary to understand.  This is explained as an unwillingness to make the necessary internal adjustments to identify change.  Change requires a willingness to let go of the internal reality created by the mind and an acceptance of a new reality. 

We live in a world today that is our reality.  It is given to us at birth and we live within it throughout our lives.  It is our reality.  Yet there is another reality that is before us that we are unable to accept or unwilling to accept.  Most of us accept a reality that there is a God, a higher being that created the world we live in.  Yet our acceptance is only partial, only minimal,  without complete commitment.  We live in a physical world that we see, feel, smell, and hear.  Our acceptance of this world is real, complete, total.  And it is the acceptance of this world that prevents us, denies us, holds us back from accepting completely the reality of the world of God.  Understanding is our vehicle.  More exposure is our tool.  And internal change is the purpose which allows us to know who we are.  Some will accept.  Some will not.  Some will believe partially, partially in the world and partially in the spirit.  And then there are those who will let go of all that is in the world and connect with all that is in the spirit.  Can you make the internal change to let go?  Can you believe, totally, that God lives and the spirit is alive?  Can you make the change that will turn you inside out?  Can you become the spirit that you are?  The change is simple.  Follow the path that is laid out before you and search for the light that is within you. 

Read the sign of the times!  Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ.  Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself.  Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding.  Read it for knowledge.  Read it for faith.  Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ.  The Holy Spirit awaits you.  Christ seeks to know you.  Open the door and let him in!