THE CROSS OF OVERCOMING

In this stanza we are not only told to take up the cross, but we are also told what the cross is. The words, "Deny thyself, the world forsake," show it to be the conscious, constant effort to live so as to deny a selfhood apart from God, and to forsake the world's false beliefs about God, man, and the universe, including the belief of life, intelligence, pleasure, or pain in matter. This can be summed up in the commands, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," and "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." This perfection is not dependent on physicality; it is found in spiritual consciousness.

In "Retrospection and Introspection" Mrs. Eddy says (p. 65), "Mortals must take up the cross if they would follow Christ, and worship the Father 'in spirit and in truth.' " To human sense, cross bearing seems undesirable and perhaps enslaving; but Christian Science presents it as a means of victory, triumph. This spiritual cross bearing and its reward are illustrated in the life-work of the Master, Christ Jesus, and again in that of our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, from whose writings many have gained their first glimpse of reality in the light they shed upon the Scriptures.

In Mrs. Eddy's writings we are urged to take Christ Jesus for our example, and to search the Scriptures for inspiration and direction. Our goal is the kingdom of heaven; and Christian Science reveals heaven, not as afar off, but as possible of attainment here and now, in proportion to our overcoming of sin. Jesus said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." And Mrs. Eddy has written: "The new birth is not the work of a moment. It begins with moments, and goes on with years; moments of surrender to God, of childlike trust and joyful adoption of good; moments of self-abnegation, self-consecration, heaven-born hope, and spiritual love" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 15). On page 560 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she tells us that "heaven represents harmony, and divine Science interprets the Principle of heavenly harmony." And she says further, "The grand necessity of existence is to gain the true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of heaven in man."

The foregoing instruction gives us a clear working basis. It gives us something to attain. It calls for the reversal of all erroneous thinking; for the denial of the evidence of the physical senses; for the finding of our true selfhood. It is the spiritual birth referred to by Christ Jesus. It takes study, consecration, diligence, to accomplish. It is something to rejoice over that this revelation regarding God and man has come to show us the way of salvation, and to enable us to prove that in reality there is nothing to overcome but a mortal sense of things.

As the real man's life is derived from God, his power to express good is also derived from God. By thinking God's thoughts our faith in matter is destroyed; and with spiritual understanding and faith, gained by true thinking, we bring our human affairs into conformity with the divine law of Love. As the realization of God's allness and perfection and of man's perfection as God's expression is gained, our needs are met with the abundance of good.

In bearing this cross of overcoming, let us be sure we are carrying it in the right way. Let us be standard bearers for Truth, not advocates for error, our mission being to rise above it. Instead of accepting them as our cross, our work is to let go of sickness, sin, hatred, and fear of upholding the standard of Truth.

We should endeavor to minimize the evil in human experience by refusing to discuss it audibly or mentally, and should magnify the good by reaching out mentally and spiritually for that which is real and true. Whatever is evil or unlovely is a seeming manifestation of mortal mind; it is false evidence, not to be credited to man's true being. The real, the true, the lovely must be brought into consciousness to replace false testimony. Thus we gain the realization of the omnipotence of good, and know that we are overcoming evil as Jesus commanded.

With this encouragement we can begin each day with gratitude to God for the opportunity to overcome error by reflecting good. We can increase our determination to express more love, mercy, patience, tolerance, and joy in our human relationships. We can see man more clearly as the true expression of God's being, so bringing healing to those seeking this truth, and in some measure blessing to all. The higher we raise the standard of Truth in our daily living, the sooner will error sink into oblivion, and the realization of man's perfection, as the reflection of infinite Mind, replace the illusions of mortal sense.

We are told to take up the cross. There is no place in human experience where we can afford to lay it down, that is, stop making the effort to give up a false mortal way of thinking. But as we advance spiritually, gaining in purity of thought and deed, a crown of peace rests upon this cross, thus uniting faithful effort with spiritual attainment. Then the cross is no longer regarded as a burden to struggle with. The cross and crown together become to us a symbol of accomplishment to be lifted high in token of hope fulfilled.

Childlike obedience moves toward every command of God, as the needle points where the loadstone draws.—T. Watson.