Living in fear of making a mistake is a terrible way to live. We may long to obey Christ Jesus' command, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."Matt. 5:48; But if we think that all we have to help us is limited ability and brains, we've fallen for the oldest line on record—the lie the serpent told Eve when tempting her to believe life was material. The tempter promised that "in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."Gen. 3:5; But instead of endowing mankind with divinity, the serpent's promise opens the door to the problems and limitations that necessarily go with the belief in an existence separate from God.
Through Christian Science we discern that God is Soul, the only Ego, the great I am, and that man is Soul's expression. This is the only basis from which to be perfect, and once it is firmly understood, the possibilities are endless.
Perhaps we see ourselves as part mortal, part spiritual. The mortal half includes notions of lack, limitation, incompleteness, dissatisfaction. Such materialistic thinking may manifest itself in various physical and mental ailments. This is the evil half of the fruit that comes from the tree of knowledge of good and evil; and the Bible says, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die"2:17;—that is, lose your understanding of Soul as perfect identity.
