With the Fourth of July holiday coming up here in the USA, have been thinking of freedom and all I have gained of it through the teachings of Christian Science.
In the eighteenth century the cry of French revolutionists was, "Liberty! Equality! Fraternity!" This demand still resounds throughout the world from many segments of society. In fact, there are very few who do not seek liberation from some form of bondage--fear, inharmony, lack, ill health, or ignorance.
The assurance of Christ Jesus, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32) is no outdated, empty promise! These words glow with relevant meaning and are being proved practical in the lives of countless men, women, and children through the study and application of Christian Science.
While many seek freedom from fetters of poverty, illness, unemployment, inadequate housing, racial inequality, all desire the peace of mind, the security and the true satisfaction that come only from an enlightened understanding of man's spiritual being as God's perfect reflection.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 227): "Citizens of the world, accept the 'glorious liberty of the children of God,' and be free! This is your divine right. The illusion of material sense, not divine law, has bound you, entangled your free limbs, cripped your capacities, enfeebled your body, and defaced the tablet of your being."
Any one may realize their God-given right to freedom now, from the fetters of material sense. God's beloved child possesses unchanging dominion over every material belief of limitation, sin, and sickness. The real man, whom God created, is forever free, governed only by God's beneficent laws.
As one gains an enlightened understanding of his true selfhood as a child of God -- spiritual and immortal--he becomes conscious of increasing liberation from restrictive, discord-producing material mindedness and begins to experience the peace, joy, and dominion rightfully his as the reflection of God's love.
Christian Science shows that true freedom is realized not by ignoring, fearing, or resenting challenging situations, however unjust or afflictive these may seem, but by recognizing the eternal truth that the way out of mortal bondage is to gain a clearer understanding of man's spiritual, perfect nature as God's child.
In her semon, "The People's Idea of God" Mrs. Eddy says (p. 10): "Justice and truth make man free, injustice and error enslave him. Mental Science alone grasps the standard of liberty, and battles for man's whole rights, divine as well as human."
This liberating standard proclaims that you and I have never been and never can be separated from our divine source, for we are God's image--immortal, free right now.
