Doesn't it bring a feeling of relief and peace to recognize that our real identity is spiritual, immortal, perfect! After all of our longing to be identified as one who has dignity and dominion, we learn from the Bible and the teachings of Christian Science that these characteristics are inherent in our true identity now and forever. We learn it is natural for us to express fearlessness, brilliance, intelligence, and beauty. In truth we can never lack an iota of any of the divine attributes, including spiritual strength, which God constantly imparts to us as His own reflection.
Then, why did we ever feel doubtful that in the world around us we could measure up to the model of God's creating in stability and usefulness? Because, preoccupied with the concept of ourselves as mortals, we didn't consistently acknowledge and accept the truth that these glorious spiritual qualities have been ours all the time. Habitual acknowledgment and acceptance of this truth lift us onto a higher level of human expression as we realize our true identity.
Working to fulfill the divine model in ourselves, we might begin by recalling that Genesis tells us God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion ...."1 Man is the conscious emanation of the Mind and Love that are God. God is perpetually speaking to us and telling each one of us that in reality we are now, always have been, and always will be the expression of His perfection and purpose. Accepting this assurance, we realize the eternal fact that our true, individual identity does embody all the qualities we aspire to express and infinitely more. We find the surety that we are God's expression also in these words of Mrs. Eddy's in Science and Health: "Separated from man, who expresses Soul, Spirit would be a nonentity;" and we hear of our dependence on God when she continues: "man, divorced from Spirit, would lose his entity." Then follows the conclusion: "But there is, there can be, no such division, for man is coexistent with God."2
