Knowing that man is the perfect child of the perfect Father, God, Christ Jesus said (Matt. 5:48), "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." What an imperative demand! Yet the Master did not demand the impossible, but urged his followers to recognize man's true selfhood and thus be themselves.
Christian Science reiterates the Master's call and proclaims man's perfection. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy asserts (p. 200), "The great truth in the Science of being, that the real man was, is, and ever shall be perfect, is incontrovertible; for if man is the image, reflection, of God, he is neither inverted nor subverted, but upright and Godlike." Perfect God is reflected in perfect man. Since God remains perfect, man remains perfect. Hence everyone's need is not to obtain or regain perfection, but to demonstrate it.
Perfect God and perfect man is the standard of Christian Science. Sooner or later every individual must realize and demonstrate that man is the perfect idea of the perfect divine Mind, instead of an imperfect mortal in an imperfect material universe. As long as one believes that man is an imperfect mortal, one is liable to experience imperfect health, supply, or relationships—the products of one's own belief. Conversely, one's realization of man's true selfhood restores harmony. What is the model in our thought? The perfect or the imperfect; the true or the false? Our choice determines the nature of our human experience.
Mrs. Eddy writes (ibid., p. 254): "God requires perfection, but not until the battle between Spirit and flesh is fought and the victory won. To stop eating, drinking, or being clothed materially before the spiritual facts of existence are gained step by step, is not legitimate." Humanly speaking, perfection is not attained in a moment. It first appears when human consciousness responds to the activity of Christ, Truth, and it becomes more and more manifest as material beliefs yield to spiritual ideas.
In the regenerating process leading to perfection, purification of thought is indispensable. Jesus said (Matt. 5:8), "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." They shall see perfection. In the proportion that one cleanses one's thinking from impure or imperfect thoughts, from fear, envy, anger, selfishness, resentment, and replaces them with the Godlike qualities of love, humility, unselfishness, and holiness, perfection becomes more tangible to him and permeates his daily experience.
Man is the expression of God, who is perfect. Hence man can never be shut off from perfection. Only false belief and sin would make such a separation seem to occur. Man's perfection is unimpeachable and unalterable. Recognizing this truth, one will never be afraid of losing good health, adequate supply, or lasting happiness. He is confident that these can be enjoyed at all times and in all places. Perfection is the unfoldment of the divine order, not the accretion of material elements. Mind is perfect, and matter, its opposite, is unreal. Perfection is demonstrated and enjoyed in daily life by the expression of more Christliness.
Even a glimpse of the perfection of being brings healing and reformation. Actually the man of God's creating does not need to be healed or reformed, since he is perfect. But until one demonstrates divine Science absolutely, one continues to appear in need of healing and redemption; these follow whenever God's perfect ideas, not mortal mind's misconceptions, are accepted and utilized. The divine idea of health eliminates sickness, or the belief in imperfect health. Abundant supply is enjoyed when the true ideas of substance and affluence wipe out the sense of lack.
These truths are illustrated in the following healing. A Christian Science practitioner was asked to help a young boy suffering from an acute sore throat. Aware of Love's healing presence and power, the Scientist began his treatment by silently assuring the child that he need not be afraid, because God, his Father, loved him infinitely and never created anything to harm him. Then he proceeded to affirm that the boy was, in reality, the perfect child of God. The Scientist saw that since man is an individual spiritual consciousness, controlled and sustained by the unchanging law of God, man's perfection is not found in matter, nor can it be accelerated, slowed down, interrupted, or hindered by so-called material laws. The Psalmist expressed this thought when he said (Ps. 18:32), "It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect." Nothing can undo God's perfect work.
With joy and conviction the Scientist recognized in Science the perfect idea of God, although to others there seemed to be a sick boy. He realized that this sickness was a dream from which the child needed to be awakened, for God never made an imperfect mortal, and man, the image of perfect Mind, does not lose his perfection. Understanding that perfection can never be contaminated or infected by imperfection, he rejoiced that the boy, as God's child, was exempt from pain and inflammation, from imperfections of all kinds. Receptive to the healing power of Truth, the child lost his fear of the disease and was quickly healed.
Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health (p. 260): "The conceptions of mortal, erring thought must give way to the ideal of all that is perfect and eternal. Through many generations human beliefs will be attaining diviner conceptions, and the immortal and perfect model of God's creation will finally be seen as the only true conception of being."
