For centuries many have believed that Christ Jesus had exclusive rights to the healing power of the Christ. Many have thought that the kinds of healings he accomplished were only possible to him; that they could not be accomplished by others. Christian Science, however, opens thought to the essential conclusion that Jesus didn't have exclusive right to the Christ-power—although he demonstrated the Christ, the true idea of God, to the fullest degree. Jesus let Christ, Truth, fully inspire his thoughts and actions. And look at the results! Wouldn't it, then, be logical for you and me to let the Christ influence us, by turning prayerfully away from materiality and looking deep into divine Truth and Love as Jesus did? By following Jesus' example of yielding to the Christ-power, we perceive the perfect man of God's creating—our genuine, spiritual selfhood. It's discerned right where sin and sickness claim to be and to have power, and so they're proved to be powerless. This is what Jesus proved. This is what we can prove.
Mary Baker Eddy gives this spiritual interpretation of Christ in Science and Health: "The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error." Science and Health, p. 583. Christ, the manifestation of God, is always doing something. It comes to fleshly thought to destroy sin and disease. It does the same thing today that it did in Jesus' time. It heals and saves. It is also preventive. Christ is not a passive agent of God. Christ is always active. Christ "comes to the flesh" to reveal man as manifesting the perfection and wholeness of God as God's reflection.
So, how does understanding this help us? It helps us by opening our thought to the Christ-power, which lifts consciousness above materiality to a perception of divine reality. It helps us because it bases our thought on Spirit, God, and His spiritual manifestation. Thought that's perceiving the oneness of God and man, that's actually conscious of this truth, promotes healing because it excludes any supposititious power or presence for matter or evil. Spiritually understanding God, and man's true selfhood as His expression, is what salvation rests upon. This understanding heals, saves, and preserves us from all the false claims of a so-called power unlike God.
