Unity with God

The desire of humanity is for peace. General and specific troubles always speak for the mistakes of mortal belief respecting the scheme of life. Consciously or unconsciously the blame for failure is usually placed upon God. The explanation is frequently offered, either that God for some inscrutable reason inflicts punishment, or that some earthly conditions are beyond the divine remedy; that we must pass through the ordeal of death to obtain His help. The covering of our own ignorance or wilfulness does not open the way for a betterment of conditions. In the prophecy of Jeremiah we read: “They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.” A poet expressed the truth about discord, in his lines:—

Thou great First Cause, least understood!
Who all my sense confined
To know but this, that Thou art good
And that myself am blind.

The best efforts to solve life’s problem on a material basis utterly fail. Dependence upon material means for healing may seem to give temporary relief, but it has not and can not lead mankind to God. On the contrary, such procedure produces, apparently, a belief in the non-availability of divine power. Having experienced healing through the prayer of understanding, the earnest seeker finds in the demonstrable apprehension of spiritual healing the peace which is coincident with real trust in God. It is here that Christian Science is meeting the human need. It is proving today the practical nature of the teachings of Jesus that “divine law is the communicator of truth, health, and harmony to earth and humanity” (Science and Health, p. 72). This fact, open for individual proof, establishes that growing faith in and reliance upon God which fills the heart with a sense of obedience and love for the Father, whose healing compassion is ever ready to deliver us from all evil, when we are willing to part with our belief in its reality.

If the composer finds that his written notes fail to express the concord of music, he does not attach the fault to the science of harmony; he seeks, rather, a higher knowledge of music and corrects his own mistakes. Likewise, if disease and discord bear witness to errors in a present mode of living, why not begin to correct one’s own daily thoughts and acts and search for an understanding of the Science of Life,—that higher knowledge which is founded upon demonstrable truth? If the corrective work takes place within and not without, deep down in the heart and not upon the surface, people will soon be manifested. The psalmist has said, “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” It is not God’s law that the acts and thoughts of others, material circumstances or so-called laws of matter, should deprive man of harmony. The Bible is filled with instructions which point clearly to the fact that unity with God offers a solution for every human problem. The necessity of existence is, therefore, to gain a knowledge and an application of God’s law. Christ Jesus possessed the highest understanding of spiritual law, and he was able to say, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.”

The great Exemplar of all mankind did not live for the gratification of, or in subjection to the senses, nor did he rely upon material means for healing. During the earlier period of his ministry he showed the necessity for working spiritually in the midst of human problems. He was aware of the inability of mortal man to do anything of himself, and as we read in the fifth chapter of John’s gospel, he demonstrated the real man’s identity as the child of God, here and now. His life was the radiation of Love, the expression of spiritual power to heal, the embodiment of “on earth peace, good will toward men.”

If one is desirous of better conditions he should let the search-light of Truth be turned within; then the secret crevices of selfishness, ignorance, doubt, and fear will be laid bare, and the unchanging goodness of God be revealed. Let us draw back the veil of the senses and measure our lives by the standard of the perfect man. Then there will dawn a truer perception of the wisdom of the Almighty, as divine Science calls upon mankind to lay aside all sin—even the sins of ignorance and misapprehension of God and His law—in order to gain entrance into the realm of consciousness where good is all-in-all.

If trust in God, good, and the reflection of divine Love destroy suffering, it is apparent that “too soon we cannot turn from disease in the body to find disease in the mortal mind, and its cure, in working for God,” as Mrs. Eddy has pointed out on page 343 of “Miscellaneous Writings.” Every moment’s delay is lingering in the pit of mistakes, while on the plane of Truth that aid which surpasses our highest hopes is to be had for the seeking. By yielding up material-mindedness and by daily devotion to spiritual thinking, pain and discord are dispelled and are replaced by health and harmony. What excuse can one offer himself for self-exclusion from the joys of rightful activity? The counsel given to Job may well be taken by us, “Acquaint now thyself with him [God], and be at peace.”