Can you find yourself in the Bible?

Are you Abraham, feeling a pull to leave the same old/same old drudgery of meaningless work and find a new path? You, too, have a wide-open, fresh, and original life awaiting you in a new land of infinite opportunity. You can look north, south, east, and west, from your new viewpoint and find that all that you see is yours.

Can you find yourself?

Are you Jacob, wrestling with a worried version of yourself that is not satisfied and feels up against a wall? Keep up the good struggle and you will find yourself face to face with God. You will see, as the very reflection of divine Life, that you please God  and  your brother man.

Are you Joseph, unfairly cast into prison, sold into slavery, and rejected by family and friends? Keep your integrity. Continue to trust God. Help others when you can, and you will find that your efforts to bless others end up blessing you and all who tried to harm you.

Are you Gideon, demoralized and hopeless? Listen for angel thoughts and a new sense of power, ability, and purpose will appear. Then follow through and take the surprising steps revealed. It will change everything.

Are you Ruth, impoverished in a strange land, with others depending on you for daily needs? Your unselfish efforts to do your best work without complaint, your willingness to put your hand in God’s hand, to work and learn, will support you and those depending on you.

Are you Daniel, besieged by envy, hatred, obstruction, conniving, and discredit? Turn your back on them, keep praying and doing your good work, see yourself armored in God’s love for you and your coworkers and you will emerge untouched.

Are you Mary, condemned for contemplation instead of busywork, longing to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from him? Or Peter, afraid to leave the comfort zone of the boat in a storm, only to sink when you see how big the waves really are? Keep your eyes on Christ and you will never be sunk or sorry.

Are you Paul, raging against those who are threatening your core values? Find Christ. Keep striving for Christ’s simplicity and it will find you. You will finally see that you, yourself, are good enough. Competition will fade and compassion will flow out from your heart toward everyone who once challenged you. You will find the simplicity of love as the only law.

Jesus certainly found himself in the Bible. He told others, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” He knew who he was and what to do because he found himself written in the Book of Life.

Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “Our thoughts of the Bible utter our lives.”* If you are in a sticky place in life, look for yourself in the Bible and find a way out. There is no need to reinvent solutions when someone else may have already found the way. There is someone in the Bible facing much the same situation that you are facing now. As God led them through their troubles, their stories can still guide you today. Eddy called the Bible, “the chart of life, where the buoys and healing currents of Truth are pointed out.”

The Bible is not just about people and customs long dead. It is a living guide to daily life in every age. Go pick up this Life-map and find yourself and your own healing currents in the Bible.

*’02 4:28 **John 5:39