Christ As You

In Isaiah 9, we read…

 The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
    on them light has shined.
 For a child has been born for us,
    a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
    and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

The prophet Isaiah foretold the coming of a powerful leader among humankind, a leader who would embody the qualities represented by the names – Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.

Many relate this prophecy to Jesus as his life was an example of one who lived these qualities. While Isaiah may have been proclaiming the coming of Jesus, he was also prophesying your birth, as well as mine. We, too, can discover these qualities within ourselves, live them and become the ones who lead humanity into a new understanding and expression of our Divine nature and our Unity.

Yes, Jesus revealed many of the qualities mentioned in Isaiah’s prophecy. He revealed them because he embraced and realized the potential of his indwelling Christ nature. We honor him as one who showed us the way.

But we fail if we only look to him and worship him because he did it. Jesus never asked us to worship him. He asked us to follow him.

While Mighty God and Everlasting Father may be interpreted to apply to God or to Jesus as God incarnate, they also represent the power and the eternality of the Divine nature of the Christ as each of us. You and I are the One Power and the Eternal Presence of God in expression. When we realize that truth, we join with our elder brother Jesus in the death of the false self and the resurrection of our Divine self.

We become the Wonderful Counselor for ourselves and for others as we call upon the wisdom and understanding of the Christ within to guide us in knowing, understanding, and responding to ourselves and others with empathy, kindness, and compassion.

We also become the Messengers of Peace when we open our hearts to connect with the Christ of our being and keep our minds stayed on the Christ within us and within all others.

Peace is a prominent theme of the Christmas stories in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. “On Earth, peace, good will toward men” is one of the most well-known and often repeated phrases from these stories. Traditional Christianity believes that Jesus Christ, who is often referred to as “The Prince of Peace,” will return to establish God’s kingdom on the Earth which will include a reign of peace. In addition to being essential to Christian eschatology, “peace on Earth” is a common theme in many of the world’s religions. In the Jewish tradition, global peace and harmony are a part of the vision for the Messianic Age. Other religions and faith traditions, including Buddhism and Hinduism also include world peace in their vision for the end time.

Peace on Earth is not dependent upon a single event or coming of a Messianic figure. It is not Jesus, but the Christ, the only begotten idea in Divine Mind for humanity, that will initiate the reign of peace on Earth. The Christ which is born through each of us, nurtured by each of us, and lived as each of us will bring forth the kingdom of God into manifestation.

To establish peace on Earth, we must be willing to know ourselves as the Christ; allow the mind of Christ to be our mind and allow ourselves “to be transformed by the renewing of our minds,” as St. Paul said in his letters to the churches at Corinth and Philippi. Our minds are transformed when we consciously surrender to the Christ, not an external being, but the idea in Divine Mind that is ever a part of our own minds. Peace on Earth will be established when we consciously choose for it to be.

As we look forward to Christmas as the celebration of the birth of the Christ embodied as Jesus, let us also celebrate the Christ born as each of us and make a commitment to ourselves, to humanity, and to all creation to realize the qualities of Christ as our own, nurture them, and live them so that together we co-create a world that reflects the peace and love that is our Truth.

Merry Christmas!