If God is good, then God's will for us all must be good. But if that is the case, you may ask, am I doing something wrong if I seem to be struggling? Even Christ Jesus, whose healing mission had already shown his total obedience to God's purpose and plan, nevertheless struggled at the time of his crucifixion. Matthew records that Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." Matt. 26:39. The "cup" of his earthly fate did not pass from Jesus. The Saviour drank it in accord with the divine purpose that he prove man's complete dominion over materialism and hatred by triumphing over the grave through divine Love. His resurrection and ascension showed how total this dominion is.
In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, next to the marginal heading "The holy struggle," Mary Baker Eddy writes of Jesus' experience in Gethsemane, "When the human element in him struggled with the divine, our great Teacher said: 'Not my will, but Thine, be done!'—that is, Let not the flesh, but the Spirit, be represented in me." Science and Health, p. 33.
If Christ Jesus—unmatched in his spirituality —found himself engaged in a "holy struggle" when faced with this highest of divine demands upon him, we should not feel ashamed if we find ourselves struggling with the demands for obedience that come to us. It's not wrong to find ourselves experiencing a struggle with "the human element"; it's right! In fact, if there appears never to be any such struggle, we might ask ourselves honestly, "Am I growing spiritually? Am I prayerfully listening for God's guidance and following it?" We shouldn't feel at ease if we seem to be sailing along without prayerful effort. Identifying and winning the struggle for spiritual ascendancy lead to practical dominion, and show we're accepting divinity's demand for our spiritual growth.
