A deeper study of the Bible’s book of Ephesians has captured my time and thought this year. In six chapters, we read how to “put off the old man,” a way of thinking based in matter, and to “put on the new man,” thinking based in Spirit, God. This new man is the man or identity made in God’s image and likeness, as expressed in the first chapter of Genesis. He is what St. Paul refers to when he writes, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). This new man is also referred to, collectively, as “children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). Children of light are those who have put off the dark ways of thinking and acting, and have embodied the light of Christ, Truth.
But how? How do we do this in a world that seems to be tormented with fear? Paul gives us the answer in Philippians. He writes, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (2:5). Christ Jesus reflected, or received, his thoughts from God, divine Mind, directly, and so do we, as God’s children, when we turn from a material conception of existence to what is solely spiritual.
Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, writes of the need for this transition of thought in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. She says: “Acting from sinful motives destroys your power of healing from the right motive. On the other hand, if you had the inclination or power to practise wrongly and then should adopt Christian Science, the wrong power would be destroyed” (p. 452). Her use of the word adopt indicates that if our motive for healing is wrong, we can change our approach, adopt Christian Science, and “the wrong power” or sinful motives—motives based in self-glorification or self-will—will be destroyed. Why? Because we have embraced Spirit, God, as the only power, and we have adopted the pure motive of seeking our relation to God first.
