Godliness is a word we don’t hear much anymore. Maybe it’s because, traditionally, to be godly means to be devoutly religious or pious—not necessarily a current social trend. Or maybe it’s because the word is perceived as being tinged with uncertainty, as when the Bible says, “Great is the mystery of godliness” (I Timothy 3:16).
We learn about the concept of godliness from the Bible. And Christian Science, discovered by Mary Baker Eddy, teaches that godliness is one’s innate divine nature. The supreme example on earth of the inherent godliness reflected by man was Christ Jesus. In her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mrs. Eddy writes, “This Christ, or divinity of the man Jesus, was his divine nature, the godliness which animated him” (p. 26).
As children of God, we each have an innate Christly nature, because we reflect God, divine Spirit, who created all of us as spiritual ideas in His image. Our reflection of God is much more than the human face we see in a mirror. This reflection is not only our divinely perfect nature, our heritage from our Father-Mother God, it is our being as God’s idea. “The great truth in the Science of being, that the real man was, is, and ever shall be perfect, is incontrovertible; for if man is the image, reflection, of God, he is neither inverted nor subverted, but upright and Godlike” (Science and Health, p. 200).
Are we ready to express our own godliness more fully?
Recently, I began thinking about the meaning of godliness while I was on a trip and visited America’s largest butterfly atrium. In the pavilion there were thousands of butterflies from around the globe’s tropical regions, stretching from Africa to Asia. Intrigued, I eagerly learned about some of them. Then a very large butterfly landed on my shoulder. As I observed it, I loved thinking about how just one butterfly could represent, in a spiritual sense, so much of God’s infinite nature, replete with goodness, gentleness, beauty, variety, intricacy, and patience.
The next morning, after a sleepless night in my hotel, I woke up to my head pounding and my throat hurting. I prayed, turning my thought to God for healing answers. Interestingly, images of the butterflies came to mind, and I recalled the many Godlike qualities I had discerned as I’d observed these creatures. Feeling inspired, I resolved to express one new spiritual quality each day to learn more about my own expression of godliness.
But at that moment, I couldn’t think of any new qualities. Then a comforting message came to my thought: “If you can’t discover more of your Godlike qualities, then enlarge the ones you have.” To me, that meant the spiritual qualities I’d already discovered in my life.
I began with gratefulness, which really opens our thought to discerning and appreciating spiritual qualities. I realized I could widen my appreciation and express more gratitude for all of the good in my life, for the beauty in my immediate surroundings, and, most of all, for the spiritual understanding of how much my Father-Mother God loves me, and everyone, since the Bible says, “God is love” (I John 4:8). Before I knew it, the headache and other symptoms of sickness had disappeared. I fully enjoyed the rest of my trip. Striving to understand and express more godliness was crucial to this healing.
In everyday life we may not always be consciously expressing our God-given godliness—at least certainly not as fully as we could. Why? To use an analogy, the electrical power in a home or office is always available for use, but if one doesn’t turn on the light switch, or notch it up to a fuller output, the room is either not illuminated, or illuminated more dimly than it could be. So perhaps the question we need to ask ourselves is, Are we ready to express our own godliness more fully?
Demonstrating godliness in our lives requires a willingness to be cleansed mentally of habitual misperceptions of existence, such as the belief that man is material and finds happiness through the material senses. It is to consent to the ever-present power of the Christ to illuminate or purify our own individual consciousness. If we indulge in sin or error, which Mrs. Eddy defines, in part, as “a belief without understanding” (Science and Health, p. 472), godliness will be lacking, because we’re not understanding, or striving to understand, that the consciousness of God’s goodness is what truly satisfies and leads us to a happy and healthy life.
Science and Health states: “Mortals may seek the understanding of Christian Science, but they will not be able to glean from Christian Science the facts of being without striving for them. This strife consists in the endeavor to forsake error of every kind and to possess no other consciousness but good” (pp. 322–323). This effort requires practice, but as we daily turn to God, divine Love, our inherent godliness as God’s reflection will become more and more manifest in our thoughts and deeds. Then the way opens for an expanding experience of how Love heals and transforms our lives. As Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “Godliness or Christianity is a human necessity: man cannot live without it; he has no intelligence, health, hope, nor happiness without godliness” (Message to The Mother Church for 1901, p. 34).
Godliness, your divine nature, is awaiting your own self-discovery through spiritual understanding.
