In scripture, there are wonderful stories that teach us awarenesses and metaphysical insights. And in Matthew it gives an example of Jesus in Galilee. And he had gone to John and said, I want to be baptized. And John said, you want me to baptize you, it ought to be opposite. You should be baptizing me, and Jesus said no, I need you to baptize me. You’re going to fulfill this in righteousness. And so Jesus goes on and he gets baptized by John and crowds gather around and the sky parts, opens up, doves are hovering over, and the voice of Spirit, the voice of God says You are my beloved with whom I am well pleased.

Can you imagine that feeling? Of feeling at this place that Jesus must’ve felt? And that energy of just feeling like, wow, everything is in place. Haven’t you felt that way before? Everything feels like it’s in place now.

And Jesus goes off from there and he goes into 40 days of nesting, and meditation. We all do that sometimes don’t we, on our spiritual journeys, sometimes don’t you just want to leave our retreat and say gosh if I could just stay at this place of feeling good? Or you have an arrival place within yourself and you say, wow, I’d love to just stay here.

But as this message shows us, as Jesus comes out of that 40 days, that’s not what happened. Because the aspect of his personality started kicking in, and started questioning him about who he is and what he can do. As he came out from that rest and that time it says in scripture that satan or the devil, which in Unity we believe that’s the shadow part of oneself, would thus present itself, and the devil came up and said here you are, you’re hungry, why don’t you now just take these stones and turn them into bread and you won’t be hungry?

And Jesus said, “It is written, one does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus was saying, universally there’s not a quick fix with how you use the Law. Yes, I might do this, I might turn the stone into bread right now, but that hunger will come and it will go.

It’s like the students that had already made that A in chemistry they thought well that’s their arrival place, but that’s when it just begins. It’s for each of us when we’re on the spiritual journey and we feel like oh, I’m in a place now I can be very comfortable. And then something comes along and we want to just make it go away. Let me say a prayer, an affirmation and just make it go away.

But the true teaching, as we’re told by our Way Shower, is to learn how to live with the word of God all the time. Isn’t that inviting? What a wonderful invitation, to learn how to develop that power within you that you’re never hungry, that you’re never just responding to outside circumstances but you know that within you you have everything that you need.

For more inspiration and information: http://templehayes.org/