“Truth communicates itself”

There are many times when we wonder if we have enough to do what’s required of us. Will we have enough patience to appropriately care for our children? Will we have enough skill and talent to complete a challenging job? Will we have enough courage to stand up to injustice? Will we have enough spiritual understanding to experience healing?  

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, recognized the practical power of Truth—a name for God—to provide enough good. She saw that God’s abundant, infinite good was shown to the world by Christ Jesus, and wrote, “The great Teacher knew both cause and effect, knew that truth communicates itself but never imparts error” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 85). Today, we too can rely on spiritual truth communicating itself to us so that we experience enough of whatever resources we need to fulfill each good purpose in our lives. 

Through prayer we can be guided into ways that let our talents be developed and our needs met. Truth is revealed to us through prayer colored with qualities such as sincerity, intelligence, receptiveness to good—prayer that is relevant to our different circumstances. In light of this, demanding circumstances are opportunities for spiritual growth. And this growth goes on as we allow for a greater expression of God, Truth, in our lives. True success and fulfillment come about by putting aside personal views so Truth can have full sway in our thought. 

Partway through my career I had a role that included making short presentations to large groups of people—such as explaining new work initiatives or welcoming a new colleague. On these occasions I habitually felt I did not have the skills to be an effective communicator. My employer changed, and when public speaking became a regular part of my work and was even more demanding, I contacted a Christian Science practitioner about my apprehensions. A Christian Science practitioner is someone whose prayers help others to better grasp their relationship to God, including recognizing that Truth is constantly imparting itself to each of us. In fact, the qualities and attributes of eternal Truth constitute our being.  

Accordingly, the practitioner assured me that I had the qualities required for this public role, citing warmth and affection as examples. But more important, he reminded me that Truth is infinite, so it cannot avoid being present to express itself, and it’s all that can actually be expressed. That reassured me no end. I was happy to yield to the divine fact that Truth is so expansive and all-encompassing that it is, in reality, all that can be communicating. And the specificity of Truth is such that it would communicate itself in whatever ways would be most effective for the various audiences to which I would speak. And, again, my role was to yield to Truth’s leading. 

Truth is the communicator, always connecting thought to a larger view of God’s goodness.

How is this divine power expressed? It is through the Christ, as Jesus so thoroughly illustrated in meeting the needs of multitudes. He explained his Christ nature to his disciples this way: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). He understood that the power to heal or to walk on water did not come from a human personality, but from the Truth and Life that are God. The eternal Christ is present today, speaking to all. Truth and Life can’t help being ever present. 

These ideas have supported me in communicating with a variety of audiences in diverse public places. The freedom that comes with spiritual healing and progress is not from the assertion of personal skills but from Truth and its healing power and its uplift of our skills and resources.

Today, particularly, we feel the demand to have intelligence and compassion, which are aspects of Truth, communicated to communities. This may relate to the community of people with whom we work, or our church community, or neighbors in the area in which we live. We might also hear cries for help from specific communities around the world dealing with various challenging issues. 

Understanding the all-embracing nature of Truth in our daily lives has broad application to collective problems. For Jesus, when there was a need for more health, food, peace, or resources in his community, turning to God was the answer. The healing and alteration that come as a result of prayer are not dependent on our personal talent at praying. Christ enables each of us to feel the presence of God, Truth, in ways that are pertinent to us, and to the problems at hand. Christ prompts us to keep our prayer relevant and to the point. Truth is communicating itself to the one praying and to those whom the prayer will support and heal. Truth is the communicator, always connecting thought to a larger view of God’s goodness. This results in positive changes in the lives of individuals and communities.

The New Testament of the Bible relates an account of Paul, who was with a community of prisoners and soldiers facing an acute threat to their safety. They were on a ship caught in a storm. The front part of the ship had run aground, and the back portion was breaking apart. Because the commanding officer wanted Paul to survive, he gave the soldiers an order to let all the prisoners flee the ship along with them. He “ordered all who could swim to jump overboard first and make for land. The others held on to planks or debris from the broken ship. So everyone escaped safely to shore” (Acts 27:43, 44, New Living Translation).

I’ve found this to be a helpful part of the narrative. No matter what skills each had—in this case, whether they could swim or not—they were all guided to safety. Each had their own specific means to reach safety. When praying about communities, I find it is quite helpful to persistently acknowledge that each individual has available the God-given resources to directly secure their own sustenance and safety. Christ enables each one to feel the presence and activity of life-affirming Truth. 

Boundless Truth always has more than enough of the good that’s required. Acknowledging that is enormously releasing. It is even more liberating when we actively yield to Truth communicating and bestowing its goodness directly, not only to ourselves but to others also. Such an acceptance and acknowledgment affirms the activity of Truth across the whole sweep of mankind, and all are blessed.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright
© 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.