On Faith: Change your thinking, change your life

Each of us is on a journey of self-discovery.

Each of us has an inner “Christ Consciousness” guiding us along a pathway of love, revealing a life waiting to be lived.

This is the way of grace, and it begins by knowing that we are in this life, but not of it. The world is filled with a cross-current of thinking that creates fear and doubt.

Jesus faced this fear and showed us how to use faith to eliminate doubt. He taught us to never take betrayal or the tests that try our faith personally. Even when you don’t know what you’re doing, the Christ Consciousness within you does. Jesus trusted God, and so, too, must we!

In the Western mind, religion is locked in a very strict model that views Jesus as the great teacher of spiritual truth professing that he is the way.

In my spiritual philosophy, I see it slightly different. I believe that Jesus was saying proceed with your life for I am the example and it is the way I am that informs behavior, helping all to respond with love.

While I do not profess to be a Christian, I still love Jesus and his teaching. The genius of his teaching speaks volumes about behavior, judgment, and oneness.

When Jesus was reported to have said, “Your faith has made you whole,” do you think he was referring only to a certain group of people?

Jesus was not the king of the Jews; he was a light unto the world showing the way by example.

In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus is reported to have said that the authority of God, “is spread out upon the Earth, and people don’t see it.” Thomas 113:2.

The Western mind struggles with love because it sees love as something you earn, not something you are.

Jesus didn’t live in his ego. In his presence, people were healed, forgiven, loved, and transformed.

The Inner Christ is a mirror. If you look within and see distortion, remember, the mirror is not distorted. Look within and change your thinking, and you’ll change your life.

JIM TURRELL is the founder and pastor of the Center for Spiritual Living Newport-Mesa.