A friend once asked me what my favorite thing is that Christian Science teaches. I have many favorites, but one of the things I am most inspired by and grateful for is the idea that “God has endowed man with inalienable rights, among which are self-government, reason, and conscience” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 106). The idea of self-government being a divine right can lift us out of all kinds of limitation, or anything that is not in alignment with the law of God, good. It benefits all aspects of our experience—our health, relationships, even finances.
This divine right is based on God as infinite and all-powerful, as well as totally good. It is not a license to do whatever we want. The expression of proper self-government under God’s supreme rule blesses others as well as ourselves. Following the quote above, Science and Health says, “Man is properly self-governed only when he is guided rightly and governed by his Maker. . . .”
For instance, the patriarch Abraham shifted the course of history when, motivated by a desire to glorify God, he left his family’s worship of idols to lay the foundation for a nation founded on monotheism. He showed that understanding God as governing all makes it natural to express the freedom of self-government guided by God. Not only was Abraham blessed, but those trusting in God’s all-power over many centuries have similarly been benefited as well.
