Neville Goddard Lectures: “Life is a Race”

28 Feb Neville Goddard Lectures: “Life is a Race”

11/2/65

Tonight’s subject is “Life is a Race.” But this is the most wonderful race, because, really, there’s no competition. The whole drama is taking place within ourselves. If we seem to have competition, it is only within ourselves. We’re not competing with anyone in this world. So in the end, the end of the race is simply self…and so everyone wins the race. No one comes second; there is no second. Only one being plays all the parts, and that being in scripture is called Jesus Christ. The Bible is sacred history; there is no secular history in the Bible. What you and I do here in this world of Caesar, well, it’s entirely up to us to do exactly what we want—make mistakes, achieve ends, do all these things. And in this world of secular history it’s perfectly alright to apply God’s law towards every end in the world. But God himself came and comes into human history in the person of Jesus Christ.

Now that phrase “and comes” is very important. “He comes into human history in the person of Jesus Christ.” The Christ that you and I meet in the pages of the New Testament is the true universal of human nature. Everyone will be not only Christ-like but will be Christ himself, everyone in this world. Christ is profoundly and uniquely related to the “inner being” of every man in every age in this world. So in the end, you are Jesus Christ, who is only the personification of God himself.

So we are told in the story, “The time of my departure is come.” Then he likens it to a fight, “I have fought the good fight.” Now he likens it to a race, “I have finished the race.” And he tells us he has kept the faith, “I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness.” Not a crown; it’s definitive, the crown of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:7). He goes on to tell us, “Let no one now bother me; for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” (Galatians 6:17). He bears on his body the marks of Jesus, and yet his name is Paul. So he ceases to be Paul and he bears on his body the marks of Jesus. He’s telling you he is Jesus Christ!

This is the story of every child born of woman. Everyone in this world will one day realize that they are Jesus Christ. He actually came and comes into human history in the person of Jesus Christ. You are born Mary, born John, I was born Neville and I lived the life of Neville; you lived the life of Mary, of John, of all these names. And then suddenly, out of nowhere, right into our life the story of Jesus Christ begins to unfold. Then and only then do you realize who you are. You always thought that you were, well, Mary, John, Bruce, Neville, call it by any name, and suddenly you realize who you are. These names that you bore and this long physical tradition—so proud that you are of a certain family, of a certain this, of a certain that, and its’ all secular history—right down into the center of it comes sacred history. And you realize who you are.

Well, suppose you received a letter this morning and this is how the letter reads, “You have died and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:3). Suppose you received that letter this morning, what would you think of it? Well, you didn’t ___(??) if you read it, because the Bible is contemporary. Those who wrote the great script were not recording situations and scenes of the past as historians. What they were doing, they were passing on to the whole vast world the story of salvation as they themselves had experienced it. So here is that letter to the Colossians, the 3rd chapter, “You have died and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Well, who is this Christ? We’re told in scripture by the same author, “Christ is the power and the wisdom and the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 1:24). You mean buried in me is the power and the wisdom and the Spirit of God, and God is Spirit? That God himself is buried in me and that I died and my life is hid with God? Yes! That’s exactly what it’s telling you.