EVERY earnest student of Christian Science desires to have more and more of the spirit of Christ, and to this end he bends his energies. He learns as he advances that spiritual growth is the result of a process whereby false beliefs are given up for the true ideas which constitute man,—that it is an awakening to a higher sense of real being, forever at-one with God.
Putting off "the old man with his deeds" is, however, a gradual process, for we read in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy (p.240):"In trying to undo the errors of sense one must pay fully and fairly the utmost farthing, until all error is finally brought into subjection to Truth. The divine method of paying sin's wages involves unwinding one's snarls, and learning from experience how to divide between sense and Soul." The task of undoing the errors of sense demands unceasing work, constant watchfulness, and tireless patience; and sooner or later all must enlist in this warfare against the beliefs in a counterfeit self.
Flushed with enthusiasm, the beginner in Christian Science practice who has, it may be, on several occasions already spoken with authority to error, does not fully appreciate the magnitude of the task of overcoming which lies before him, without which overcoming spiritual growth is impossible. He learns in time, however, that this growth requires more than merely the letter of Christian Science,—that the spirit of the healing Christ must be desired, and not only desired, but perseveringly striven for until an understanding of its abiding presence is attained.
