Thomas Parker Boyd - A New Concept of God (1930) Thomas Parker Boyd, D.D., PhD.
The human concept of God has changed from generation to generation, from a small and selfish idea to a larger and more vast experience, until today a new idea of God has been born in the soul of man. An ideal God fitting this new age, new only because we are now more fully understanding and using the vast treasures and powers that have always been ours. Forces far greater than radio or electricity exist today, hidden, awaiting only the time of our enlightenment. As we discover the laws that govern these powers, we always change and progress, in other words, we grow toward God. Our unfoldment of the power of spiritual vision so that we become able to understand God better comes as a natural growth, day by day. We understand God better, and God seems new and more real. He really is as old as eternity. God is a Principle, not just a Personality, as previously considered by religion, and the lives we live are the use we make of that principle. Just as we use the principle of mathematics, so do we use the principle of religion, and the more we use it, the more familiar and the more expert we become. Let us learn how to use our God not only often but always, becoming experts with this power that is ours by our divine birthright. This means praying unceasingly. As we try and test God, and having faith, we find the principle works. We then use this principle in our everyday lives; therefore God is no longer just a Sunday Guest, as He was years ago. He is our partner through all the seemingly trivial happenings of every minute of the day and night and throughout the week. Happenings are no longer trivial because we now recognize that each second is in its Divine Order and that God divinely plans it. Then and then only, God is closer to us than breathing itself. God is the Eternal and Changeless One, whom we cannot understand through the study of books. We must live and use His Principle, and through living and practicing, understand! The Infinite cannot be contracted to the finite, but the finite (or the individual) can unfold through the process of evolution toward a fuller understanding of the Infinite. The human mind is merely discovering what has always existed as Truth in the One and Only Mind. Therefore Revelation is a continuous process, and as God is revealed to us more fully, we are born again. Being born again then means – Understanding and LIVING God – and growing toward Him! The change is in the child, not the Father – the Father is ever the same, but the child grows toward the Father. Contact with God, demonstrated in human experiences, results in the healing of the sick, transforming the conditions of the individual, and gradually it will all result in the ushering in of a new type of being in this, the New Age. As God is All-Powerful, so is the individual who has made the contact all-powerful. As the Sons and Daughters of God, and therefore Coheirs with Christ, all that the Father has is ours. As we exercise His Power for His works, then His Power becomes our power, but only if applied rightly. Of ourselves, we can do nothing. It is the Father within who does the works! It behooves us to make the contact through practice, and then be sure that we are about our Father's business through eternal service to all humanity, because only as we serve the least of these do we serve Him. The rhythm of this new, yet ever old religion, is Love, the keynote is Brotherhood, and the note is Service. I shall seek no advantage for myself to the detriment or harm of my neighbor, knowing that it is only through the law of mutuality that I can fully enjoy what I gain. And this is the method, and in prayer I make my contact: My Father in Heaven, Infinite Spirit of Life and Love and Wisdom, in whom I live and move and have my being, whence cometh my help, manifest Thyself in me. Help me to open myself to the highest wisdom and insight and love and power, that I may serve Thee, and humanity and all my fellow-creatures faithfully, and that I may have the Divine Guidance and
care, and that all my needs are supplied. Oh, Christ Light, enfold and lead me and reign supreme, that in the One Life that is my life, I may realize and manifest more fully. I am strong in the Infinite Spirit of Life and Love and Wisdom and Power. I have and shall have the Divine guidance and care, for it is the Father that works in me – My Father works and I work. This, therefore is My Concept of God, which I try to live – God bless you! And may it be of help to you! Your Loving Brother – In His Service. Higher Thought Forum, Buffalo, New York March 1930 Published by the Boyd & Lister Publishing Co, San Francisco, California More information about Thomas Parker Boyd can be found here.
