There are so many reasons why I thank God for the teachings of Christian Science. Could never pay off the sense of indebtedness I feel, and this is a happy feeling to have. But what I'm thinking about this morning, in fact, for the past few days with a couple of blog postings on the importance of loving our neighbor, is the connection between compassion and healing. It occurs to me it might be helpful for someone new to Christian Science reading this blog for the first time to hear more about this.
That there is this connection Jesus, God's Son, makes abundantly clear in his teachings. I do believe, and have experienced, that our Master's commands to "heal the sick" and "love thy neighbor" can't be separated. Christly loving of our fellow beings is the basis for spiritual healing, as the life of Jesus demonstrated. His healings exemplified the nature of God as tender, understanding Love, who knows what we have need of before we ask Him. Christ-healing is based on this knowledge of God and man. And faith in and understanding of divine Love constitute the healing power of all prayer in Christian Science.
Let me give just one of the examples of this from my own life. There are many I could cite that show what happens when more love replaces the opposite states of thought making a person ill. Several years ago when we were living in Boston, went through a difficult time with a throat condition that caused sudden outbreaks of uncontrollable coughing. I was feeling weak and frustrated. Being a student of Christian Science, I was praying about this problem earnestly. But no relief was in sight.
Then one night, after unusually severe coughing, I was sitting there on the sofa in the dark, feeling at an impasse. I reached out to God to show me what more I needed to know, or do, to be free. I actually said to Him, I'll do anything You want me to do! Quietly the answer came. There was someone--a former co-worker I hadn't thought of for a long time--whom I needed not only to forgive but feel love for as well. It seemed clear to me that spiritual progress was demanding that the unkind feelings lodged in thought be removed. The healing began to take place with my willingness to allow divine Love to uplift thought and clear out what didn't belong there.
Someone reading this might say, "Well I would have taken some medicine, or a pill. While this wouldn't have cured the problem I realize, it would have given me some relief." To this I would say, "But how could a pill get at the unloving states of thought?" I wanted, and had gotten in other instances, complete freedom from the difficulty.
And this is precisely what I got. The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy points out in her book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (page 404): "Hatred, envy, dishonesty, fear, and so forth make a man sick and neither material medicine nor Mind can help him permanently, even in body, unless it makes him better mentally, and so delivers him from his destroyers." Certainly, what I had been harboring toward this individual was an aspect of hatred, and this was what needed to be replaced with Christlike compassion.
No doubt many people feel that there is something a little weak about being warm and loving--something that strong, self-reliant people just don't do. But think about Jesus. Where have we ever had an example of a more courageous yet tenderhearted person? Having a heart that overflowed with compassion didn't interfere with his moral courage or healing power or dynamic spirituality one bit.
To be caring and compassionate toward others can demand great spiritual stamina at times. Tell me about it! But even if we have to pace the floors in prayer in order to conform to what our Lord and Saviour requires of us, through the power Christ gives us, we can gain forgiveness and healing love.
To help ensure that I do not deprive myself and those around me of the Christly compassion the world so needs right now, I have resolved to ask myself every day, "How much of God's love is reaching others through me?" Not only do others need this desperately, my own continued good health depends upon it.
