Sometimes it may feel as if the problems we face are not only real and powerful, but things we can’t truly avoid. It may seem as if challenges related to aging, finances, or health are normal and natural elements of existence that cannot be resisted or destroyed.
But are they?
Through the teachings of Christian Science we learn that the only things that are natural and normal are those that emanate from God, good, reflecting His goodness. So if what we are facing is not good, it’s not from God. This gives us a spiritually scientific foundation on which to refute, prevent, and heal untoward circumstances.
To do this necessitates that we begin with God’s supremacy. God’s power, in reality, is unchallenged, not even threatened. His presence is unassailable because He is the source, the originator, of all that is good and real.
Since God, our Father-Mother, is infinite Spirit, every aspect of our being is actually spiritual, because it has its source in Him. And to be the reflection, or image, of God means to express all that originates in Him. As God is divine Love, we reflect Him in loving thoughts and actions. As He is divine Principle, we reflect Him in law and order. As He is divine Truth, it’s natural for us to express qualities such as honesty. Not a single aspect of our true being as God’s spiritual likeness differs from the nature of God. And nothing can be taken away from our identity, because God sustains us.
These truths of our real and only selfhood are powerful, because they show the naturalness and normalcy of our present, perfect being as God’s children. They teach us of our at-one-ment with God as His manifestation—which can be evidenced in our everyday experiences.
This is important, because when we’re tempted to accept that we are victims of disease or can’t see beyond some ugly situation, we can prove—through communion with God—our unity with divine Truth, vanquishing anything not created by Him. We have the inherent ability to discern and demonstrate the spiritual facts of our being and our relation to God. We can do this by receptively allowing God to fill our consciousness with His perfect truth.
We cannot be made to conform to anything false, because God, the only power, sustains and maintains us in His perfection.
In our true identity as the likeness, or idea, of divine Mind, you and I reflect and express all of God’s truth and perfection. We’re not mortal vessels that can be filled with evil and errors, sin and sickness. We are expressions of God, of Life, Truth, and Love. So it’s not as much about the human mind filling itself up with Truth, as it is about the human mind yielding to the Divine. Then, our thought is naturally filled with Truth, and we find ourselves inspired and uplifted. We find we’re ready and able to pray our way to the solution we need, because God is giving us all right ideas, all necessary spiritual concepts, at every moment.
I like to think about this in terms of a ball that is totally filled with air. An inflated ball cannot be as easily molded and pressed upon as an empty one. It holds its shape and keeps its function. The same is true with our consciousness. When our thought is filled with Truth, there is no room for error, for false material beliefs about our true nature, to enter.
Also, unlike a ball that can succumb to outside pressure, a consciousness filled with divine Truth and Love is not vulnerable to so-called outside forces, because there is no outside to infinity. This understanding enables us to counter false beliefs that would enter into our thinking. As we yield to the divine Mind, letting Truth flood our consciousness, we gain ever grander views of God and His creation, and come to realize that even the most aggressive beliefs that would challenge our health and harmony cannot deface our true function and identity as God’s child, His spiritual idea, whole and pure. We cannot be made to conform to anything false, because God, the only power, sustains and maintains us in His perfection.
In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, teaches, “The way to extract error from mortal mind is to pour in truth through flood-tides of Love” (p. 201). This points to an interesting fact in metaphysics: Our job isn’t necessarily to hunt for some error within thought and dig it out. It is to let divine Love and Truth fill consciousness, allowing God’s truth to flush error out and destroy it. This keeps thought buoyant and aloft with the spiritual reality of our safety in God’s kingdom.
I love the Bible story of the healing of the man with an “unclean spirit,” which called itself “Legion,” as recorded by Mark (see Mark 5:1–19). Here we learn that no matter how many different false beliefs there may be, or how aggressive they are, they can be cast out quickly and completely by the power of Truth. The man who was ultimately healed was pressed upon by a multitude of challenges—so much so that many knew of him because he often cried out in a loud voice and could not be restrained. When he approached Christ Jesus, these boisterous false beliefs rose up and expressed themselves through this man.
But Jesus addressed them directly and forcefully, and so destroyed them, thus freeing the man. Christ Jesus understood that the true nature of this man was not as it appeared; rather, his spiritual, natural, and normal state was whole and complete. The divine Truth that so filled Jesus’ thought eliminated the impositions on the man, and he was healed.
We too can rise up and let our thoughts be filled with Truth, with what is spiritually normal and divinely natural, revealing our true self, presently perfect and whole—and in this way we’ll find ourselves healed, as well.
