Inner Sacrifice in Bethlehem

Neville's Inner Vision

Picture Bethlehem as the inner heart of your life, the sacred place where consciousness gathers before an offering. Samuel is the living Word within you, the I AM that speaks to the thought-world and invites truth. The elders, trembling, symbolize the old beliefs and fears that resist change. When Samuel says, 'Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the LORD,' he teaches that true worship begins with inner peace, not with outward ritual alone. The command to 'sanctify yourselves' is a call to revise the mortal self’s thoughts until they align with the altar of awareness. He proceeds to sanctify Jesse and his sons, inviting every facet of your nature—your memories, your drives, your ambitions—to come to the sacrifice. In your practice, obedience and faithfulness mean you shift from resistance to surrender, from egoic striving to quiet alignment with the I AM. The inner movement is a conscious offering of attention to the divine within, a choosing of holiness that redefines reality from the inside out, so that the outer world will reflect that sanctified state.