“Look unto me”

“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” This text indicates the certainty of universal salvation through undivided faith in God, omnipotent good.

It is at once apparent that the demand, “Look unto me,” does not refer to physical seeing, but solely to one’s spiritual outlook. Elucidating the First Commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” Mrs. Eddy writes in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” (p. 467). “This me is Spirit.” Therefore it is to Spirit that the sufferer must look for his health, the sinner for his redemption, the sorrower for his consolation.

In contrast to this “me” of Spirit, our Leader thus defines the word “you” (ibid., p. 599): “As applied to corporeality, a mortal; finity.” The student of Christian Science learns that he cannot look from this “me” of Spirit to the “you” of corporeality and seek to reconcile opposites; nor can he expect Spirit to heal insensate matter. Spirit does not rain down material health and material blessings, so called, upon mortals; but the power of Spirit lifts mortals to perceive and to prove that health and joy are wholly spiritual in their origin and nature. It may be said that the alert student of Christian Science is constantly “saved” from some form of discord: from becoming sick, irritable, fatigued, discouraged, resentful; from being unwise, uncharitable, selfish, or lazy. This is because he is yielding to Spirit’s insistent and incessant demands that one shall put off the false concept of man as rapidly as is practicable, and adopt and adhere to the true model, spiritual man.

Through the application of Christian Science every frightened, deluded wayfarer on earth may respond to this call of divine Love, “Look unto me, and be ye saved.” Why should this looking towards divine Love heal and save? Because the reflection of divine Love blots out mortal fears and their physical consequences. Is not a little child saved from its infantile terrors when it observes that in its mother’s countenance there is no terror, no apprehension, no anger, but only peace, reassurance, patience, gentleness, and love? Speaking of children, Jesus said, “I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.”

Are we looking steadfastly at the countenance, the consciousness, of our heavenly Father-Mother God? What is to be found there? Invariable beneficence; immortal substance; spiritual joy; the everlasting perfection of Spirit. Small wonder, then, that the Psalmist refers to God as “the health of my countenance.” In the countenance or consciousness of God there is no sadness and no suffering.

It may happen that one who is learning to look away from matter to Spirit seems to have gone but halfway in this process. He may trust Spirit thus far, but not all the way. For instance, he may have a lingering fear of what he still regards as physical symptoms, from the medical standpoint; or, he may still harbor the remnants of a superstitious faith in certain so-called material remedies, in material supports, or in certain climates, as supposed auxiliaries to his spiritual healing. If so, he is not fully heeding the “Look unto me,” for his faith is divided between Spirit and matter. Indeed, one might almost designate his mental condition as one of mental squinting, or looking in opposite directions, while attempting to advance Spiritward.

Christian Science never requires one to attempt that which is beyond present comprehension. Certain material tendencies may, however, be corrected without delay. Undue self-indulgence, for instance, with regard to food, or physical recreation and relaxation, would tend to clasp more tightly the fetters of materiality; whereas, the well-ordered and wise resolve to depend increasingly upon divine Mind for recuperation, regeneration, and recreation results in better health, greater endurance, deeper satisfaction, and a purer peace. Thus the contemplation of this wonderful “me” of Spirit, God, brings about the gradual fading out of the belief in the “you” of corporeality. This exchange of the ephemeral beliefs of the flesh for the substantiality of Spirit will continue to unfold until, as the Apostle Paul writes, “we all come … unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”

One who would rejoice in God’s gifts will discern and enjoy them in the measure of his surrender of material counterfeits. If he comes to Christian Science with one hand still grasping the material, he will receive but a measure of the blessing in store for the single-hearted. If, on the contrary, he strives to be teachable in all ways, eager to intrust his health, his happiness, and his heaven to the “high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity,” then he will find

“That, while we travail yet on earth,
Our hearts may be in heaven.”