The Bible declares, “Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all” (I Chronicles 29:11, New International Version).
This inspired passage invites us to enlarge our sense of God as an actual presence, infinitely larger and more real than the confines of a material sense of life. Allowing ourselves to surrender to the immenseness of eternal Life is to begin to discover God’s spiritual universe, the atmosphere of divine Mind that is without limits.
The Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, authored by Mary Baker Eddy, welcomes the reader with these words in the Preface: “To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings” (p. vii).
To lean on the sustaining power of God is to let go of a personal sense of self that is hurting, disquieted, or feeling threatened. And we don’t need to wait for an afterlife to do this. We can experience the constancy and substantiality of infinite Life and Love now, and receive the comfort and assurance we yearn for. The awareness of God’s presence removes fear and doubt, replacing them with inspired thoughts and an uplifted sense of life as the unfolding of harmony.
The sustaining infinite has no bottom, no place to fall to, no out-of-control imbalance, no unpleasant encounter with matter—only salvation from the discord of material sense.
Christian Science makes a clear distinction between what we each are as God’s expression, and mortal man. Christ Jesus illustrated the ideal man in demonstrating the at-one-ment with Spirit he taught. He lived as Spirit’s expression. This was in full conformity with the Bible teaching that we are created in God’s image and likeness.
Science and Health explains, “The divine origin of Jesus gave him more than human power to expound the facts of creation, and demonstrate the one Mind which makes and governs man and the universe” (p. 539). This enabled Jesus to have dominion over the magnetic pull of sin, disease, and death. Though visibly human, and having a clear, Christly compassion for humanity, he realized and felt God’s presence each moment. He kept his consciousness above the belief of life in matter.
It requires our persistent devotion to understand and practice our true identity as God’s spiritual expression, but the result is increasing freedom from the imposition of material sense and the frequent limitations of human reasoning and perception.
In thinking of the divine greatness, power, and majesty, we are moved as God’s likeness to experience and express His largeness, strength, and dignity in our lives. These may appear as human qualities, but they are really spiritual attributes, originating in our oneness with God, good.
Mary Baker Eddy came to this understanding through diligent study of the Bible, especially the teachings and healing work of Jesus, and named her discovery Christian Science. She writes, “Entirely separate from the belief and dream of material living, is the Life divine, revealing spiritual understanding and the consciousness of man’s dominion over the whole earth” (Science and Health, p. 14).
I caught a glimpse of this truth one night when I was in my late teens. I’d just had a rebuilt transmission installed in my car, and I picked up three buddies to go for a drive and test it out. I was told that the fourth gear would shift at a speed well above the legal limit.
There had been a heavy rain earlier, and as we were approaching a high speed, we suddenly hit a flash flood of several feet of water on the highway. The car lifted and momentarily glided across the top of the water. Then it began to roll over onto its top. Suddenly, we found ourselves upside down, partially submerged in the water, and moving at a rapid rate. I recall hearing the top of the car scraping the pavement, my head being only inches above.
During this incident, something happened that has stayed with me since. As we were skidding along upside down, I didn’t panic. Rather, an inspired thought came to me. It was a statement from Science and Health that had first been introduced to me by my grandmother, who was a Christian Science practitioner: “Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need” (p. 494).
After I remembered this statement, I was absolutely fearless. I felt enveloped by a larger sense of being, the Supreme Being. I hadn’t been in Sunday School or church for years, yet this idea appeared fresh and clear. It seemed natural to me that my friends and I were being protected. We were living and proving that truth.
As the car came to a stop, I asked if everyone was OK. Through the seat I heard a muffled reply, “Yeah.” With considerable effort, a passerby pulled a door open, and all four of us came tumbling out. We had traveled what appeared to be about fifty yards and ended up on dry ground. The man who opened the door commented, “I was afraid to look in. I didn’t know what to expect.”
This experience taught me that security is not to be found in matter, as substantial as it appears. True security is found in the enlarged sense of God, an awareness that divine Love is as near us as the air we breathe.
It’s apparent that the more clearly we understand God as infinite, ever-present good, the greater our trust in His sovereignty and loving care. We also perceive that our real and lasting identity, our spiritual selfhood, is functioning fully and purposefully, even when we seem to be in the midst of material discord.
It’s our devoted recognition and practice of our pure, immortal nature that lead us to experience and express our God-inspired dominion, establishing Love’s continued presence and our continued well-being.
