Articles

Through the world's eyes, it could hardly look less significant. About a half dozen adults and maybe a dozen or so children meet for an hour a week in the basement or back end of a church.

Everyone wants healing. That's just natural.

Have you ever said or at least felt yourself thinking, "Not yet, Father"? I have. It was at a time when our branch Church of Christ, Scientist, was going to have a meeting to elect a new First Reader.

In the early days of Mrs. Eddy's experience in presenting Christian Science to the public, she was invited to give a talk in a small town some distance from Boston.

At this juncture in history, the world certainly needs effective healers to help mankind progress toward spiritual freedom. If you knew that by your own spiritual growth a life could be saved; that a child could be healed of emotional or physical scars; that an individual suffering the depths of depression could be lifted into a joyful and productive life; that a criminal could be reformed—would it be worth it to you to achieve that spiritual growth? Would it be worth it to you to become more settled and systematic in your spiritual efforts? Reading this, are you surprised? Do you respond, "Who, me? Heal those situations?" If it is God, Principle, who heals, and not the human mind, then why couldn't you—being disciplined, ordered, and imbued with divine Truth and Love—learn to bear faithful witness to God's law of love in thought and deed? And why couldn't you actually see the effect upon those dear receptive ones who turn hopefully to this divine law? God, divine Principle, rules His universe, including His idea, man, through the absolute, invariable law of harmony.

When David offered to fight the dreaded giant of the Philistines, he showed not a trace of hesitancy, doubt, or fear, although some demeaned him and scoffed at him. See I Sam.

Sometimes people feel discouraged and wonder why they aren't seeing more signs of progress in their lives or even in their church. One may ask, "What more can I do, or what am I doing wrong?" But perhaps there are other questions we should be asking.

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. John 1:5 Gethsemane.

Do you find the news depressing at times? If we take some of the reports at face value, it may appear that widespread disregard of law, order, and morality threatens the very existence of our civilization. Recently, when I realized that my own peace of mind was greatly disturbed by these things, I asked myself, What can I do to prevent the destruction of all that I hold dear? I felt quite helpless.

I used to wonder why I had to struggle long and hard with some difficulties, while others would yield right away. Why didn't my faith in God and in the efficacy of spiritual healing rout one error just as well as another? If you've ever done this kind of wondering, you may be interested in the result of my being led to combine ideas from three passages I had long been familiar with.