If you’re praying about a problem and there isn’t immediate resolution, how do you know if you’re making progress? Christian Science presents quite a different way of measuring progress from the rest of the world. And when it comes specifically to physical healing, the way we’ve learned to measure progress might need to change. The world tries to keep us at a surface level—to think only about a physical approach to healing that is entirely focused on improving matter. In Christian Science, however, we’re thinking about improving thought.
The Apostle Paul said in the book of Romans, “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (12:2). The theologian J. B. Phillips translated that passage, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould.” World thought tries to squeeze us into a physical model of thinking, but that’s actually exactly what hinders our progress forward.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, wrote in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “A physical diagnosis of disease … tends to induce disease” (p. 370). The medical system focuses much on the diagnosis of disease in a patient, and, once the disease is diagnosed, everything that’s happening to the body is charted—recorded, measured, and evaluated.
No matter what the world around us is holding up for us to look at, and no matter how bad things look, we always have the ability to realize that we are loved by God, governed by God, and that we are under God’s wonderfully good care.
Do we do this same diagnosing to ourselves? Self-diagnosis can be even more of a hindrance than a medical diagnosis. It tends to bring about fear, and that’s never helpful to progress. Are we daily, even hourly, mentally recording every physical action and reaction? If that’s what we’re doing, it can hold us back.
There’s a kind of spiritual charting, though, that is helpful. This is all about focusing thought on God and His goodness, and how we reflect that goodness—knowing that no matter what the world around us is holding up for us to look at, and no matter how bad things look, we always have the ability to realize that we are loved by God, governed by God, and that we are under God’s wonderfully good care. We are all children of the one divine Mind, the one source of intelligence—infinite, ever-present, divine Love. We can listen to God and learn what He knows about us. That’s where a real, spiritual standard of progress comes in.
There are two particular aspects of spiritual progress worth considering. The first involves actively looking at our mentality rather than our physicality. Eddy explains that the practice of “Christian Science goes to the bottom of mental action …” (Science and Health, p. 104). We might ask ourselves, “How does our mentality or thought need to change?”
The second aspect involves looking to God as our healer and relying on Him fully—realizing that we are governed by God, and that God is good, divine Love. Jesus’ healing ministry embodied this view and was all about relying on God’s goodness. When he came across disease, he healed it. When he came across fear, discord, disruption, or inharmony, he restored calm and peace. When he encountered death, he brought life—and that included raising himself from death. Such healing works are what Christian Science brings to us today, through changing our thoughts about life and health, and through understanding how God’s great love for us brings practical healing solutions.
I spent several months praying and studying. I felt I needed a transformation in my life, that I needed a better sense of my real spiritual identity.
A number of years ago, I had several physical problems, literally ranging from my head to my feet. Keeping track of all the symptoms would have been ridiculous. It actually helped to realize that symptom-tracking would have just made all the problems larger, more real, and more powerful to me. I needed to look away from the symptoms.
I knew I had a great need of spiritual growth. I didn’t know much about the Bible, and I didn’t know much about Christian Science, either. So I began a deeper study of the Bible, and I began to read through Science and Health, the textbook of Christian Science, somewhere between 30 and 50 pages a day. I had the time to do this, and I devoted myself to it.
I started reading and praying to affirm my spiritual identity—and to realize that any other belief about me, as being physically challenged or handicapped, was a lie. I’d like to say it was a quick healing, or in this case many quick healings, but it took time. I spent several months praying and studying. I felt I needed a transformation in my life, that I needed a better sense of my real spiritual identity.
I began to chart my progress by asking myself questions such as, “What have I learned today about myself that I didn’t know yesterday?” “What have I learned today about God that I didn’t know yesterday?” And, “What am I able to put into practice today about my spiritual identity that I couldn’t practice yesterday?” That kind of measuring progress ultimately resulted in the healing of all those problems.
The lessons I learned at that time have everything to do with my practice today as a Christian Science practitioner. I find that those who call for prayerful help are often looking for the same paradigm shift in how to measure progress. Usually the reason they call is because physical symptoms are crashing in on them. I often try to change that focus and say something like, “Let’s not measure progress that way. Let’s think about what God is doing in your life, and what you are learning from Him. Let’s remember there is good going on, and that you can be conscious of that good right now as the child of God. You can realize the blessings that have come to you, and that’s going to be a whole lot more joyous than thinking about what’s happening to your body.”
Mary Baker Eddy wrote a passage that gives a unique perspective of how to really measure progress: “If the disciple is advancing spiritually, he is striving to enter in. He constantly turns away from material sense, and looks towards the imperishable things of Spirit. If honest, he will be in earnest from the start, and gain a little each day in the right direction, till at last he finishes his course with joy” (Science and Health, p. 21). That’s what real progress is all about.
