Deep within each individual is the desire to feel and express wholeness and innocence. We naturally long to express in our lives the goodness that helps the whole world to be better. This desire is born of God, who is the author of these qualities and who eternally expresses them in His creation.
But what if we feel far from fulfilling this desire? What if we have been struggling long and hard with some repeated sin, unhealed illness, or other circumstance that seems beyond our control? Is there a basis to hope for a complete recovery to a fuller, more useful life?
Yes, there is. And it's a basis that has its authority in the deep, spiritual import of the Bible. The light Christian Science throws on the Bible makes it a practical guide right where we are in our lives. For example, studying references that include words such as recover, restore, redeem, renew, and their derivatives, in the Bible and in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, helped me to see that what appears to have been lost—whether it's opportunity, self-respect, health, or something else—is restored as we turn from the belief that man is a sinful, vulnerable mortal to the understanding that Christian Science gives of man in the image and likeness of God. In reality, this man of God's creating has always been whole, untouched by disease or sin. Innocence and purity are his rich inheritance; he is uncontaminated by the corrupting influences of a material world.
