Our health depends on it

On what, you may ask?  Upon making sure we keep the love flowing.  And by love, I mean that which God is, which He is continuously pouring out on us, and demands that we express to others.

Life has taught me that we who follow Christ, who reverence the Name, can't allow the shame of feeling less than love for our fellowman.  To be lacking this is deadly serious, I have found--not just a blip on the divine screen.  And it needs to be gotten at as quickly as possible.

Awhile back I happened to read something from one of my favorite writers on Christian Science, Samuel Greenwood, and this made a huge impression on me.  He said that in his many years of being in the public practice of Christian Science and helping countless people, it was lack of feeling love for others, lack of feeling God's love for themselves, that was the root of the physical problems they were facing.  I've come to see how right on this is.

One day I mentioned to a friend in Christ who lives in Scotland how many diseases are caused by lack of Christly love, and without a moment's thought,he said "All".  I was pleased to see such insight from this man, who isn't an adherent of my religion.

Beyond making us ill, the worst thing about not reflecting God's love (which is blatant disobedience to His commands, after all) is a sense of estrangement from Him.  Not that He ever stops caring about us, but our Father Who is all Love as Mary Baker Eddy points out is not going to follow us off into momentary resentment or ill will toward others, is He?  While indulging these devilish states of thought, we've cut ourselves off from Him, from all that makes life what it should be.

We need to keep our connection to divine Love.  With the armor of the Word, and no-fooling praying, we all can.  The rewards are tremendous.  1 John 4:16 puts it plainly: "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him."

Guest Column - John Wellsman

Computer Programming and Obedience to God



More than thirty years ago a course in computer programming provided much food for thought on obedience to God.  It seems that computers require very specific commands in a very specific and absolutely perfect format to perform their amazing feats.  We learned very quickly that even a simple program to get the computer to print out, "Hi, my name is John" which could be done in a dozen or so lines of instructions had to be absolutely perfectly entered.  Even the transposition of one word or letter or the omission of a single period could cause the computer to have a complete fit and print out literally hundreds of pages--yes, pages--of error messages.  Most "error" messages would refer to lines or instructions which were absolutely perfect in and of themselves but because of another simple error or omission they appeared to the computer to be either "unexpected" or erroneous.  We learned quickly to go directly to our coded instructions and proofread them VERY carefully rather than try to sort through the volumes of error messages.

It was while proofreading one of these programs that I began to think of how similar this was to being obedient to God's commands.  Our heavenly Father while loving and forgiving is also exacting.  There are no shortcuts or room for error in following His commands.  Ignoring or purposely violating divine directives can quite literally destroy one's human life as many can attest.  For example, in attempting to unwind one's snarls through the application of prayer one may find the "still, small voice" directing a certain course of action but resist through a false sense of pride or self-justification or some other human emotion--all the while trying to remove what may be a myriad of physical or emotional symptoms through prayer.  In such cases one might even be tempted to think that prayer isn't effective in solving physical problems.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The experience of a dear friend some years ago comes to thought.  This friend experienced a sudden loss of hearing at one point in his life.  The impairment of his hearing was of course extremely frustrating for the individual.  He sought the prayerful help of a Christian Science practitioner but initially received no immediate relief.  During this time the individual had been trying to decide on the purchase of a new car.  He had visited every auto dealership for miles around his home several times but had not been able to make a final choice.  Cost was not an issue as several vehicles were available within the individual's means.  He simply had been unwilling to make a commitment to action.  One day he realized that he indeed had more than enough information to make a decision and as he reached out for divine guidance in this simple situation, a course of action unfolded in his thought and he followed the steps indicated.  By the time the purchase of the new vehicle was completed shortly thereafter, the individual was enjoying completely normal hearing.  Obedience and willingness to listen and follow God's directions faithfully brought the quick healing--as it always does.

Everlasting

Christ Jesus once said "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."  And they have not, as Mary Baker Eddy says in one of her books.  They are as timely and potent and life-giving today as when they were first spoken.

Recently, we saw a documatry about Mahatma Gandhi when something the narrator said jumped out at me.  Gandhi, he said, would tell his fellow Hindus "unless you study reverentially all the teachings of Jesus, your life will be incomplete."

So powerful are these teachings, I couldn't help thinking about the lives of those Indians who were transformed as something Jesus said took root in their thoughts.  This was the case with Felix Mendelssohn, composer of glorious music, who happened to pick up a New Testament one day and was lit up by a statement of Christ's.  Although brought up as a Jew, Mendelssohn at once converted to Christianity.

My life would certainly be incomplete without God's Word.  More than this, life would lack joy and peace, and a sense of divine power with which to overcome difficulties that arise.  How have Jesus' teachings impacted my life for good, you may wonder?  How have these sublime sayings not had an influence for the better.

I could fill a book with real-life examples, as probably could countless other men and women who have tried to put into practice what the Master taught.  You may be among these blessed individuals.

Christ Jesus spoke words that will last eternally.  And so will we -- as we live by His words.

Giving credit where it's due

What I owe to the woman*

Who gave the world Christian Science!

Rather than retire,

Her heart on fire

To reach others with

What had set her free

From years of suffering --

God's divine method of healing --

She prayed and toiled, leaned on God,

Wrote down what He revealed.

This great lady loved Christ

More than all the world, she said.

And her lifework to make clear

What Jesus knew about God and man

Has made our Master's words and works

Understandable and potent for me.


*Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer
and Founder of Christian Science

Christian Science Gets Results

(Just had a letter from a dear friend of ours who moved to Florida a few months ago.  This girl found Christian Science when living here in Tennessee, and took right to the truths contained in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, experiencing God's healing power in her life.   Thought I'd share excerpts from her letter, which shows more results from her study and practice of Christian Science.)


"Christian Science is one of my greatest treasures.  I am so grateful to have the Truths, Principles and understanding of God and of our image and likeness to Him, and of God's omnipresence, omnipower, and omniscience.  I have had the illusion of a torn rotary cup, a injured knee and a pulled calf since being in Florida.  I'm so grateful to have God's perfection of Truth to show me the nothingness of these illusions.  I am forever grateful to Christian Science that has helped me discover the Great I AM that I AM, who is All in All, grateful to our Father-Mother God, creator of All,  we dwell in, and live, move and have our being."

Even a Butterfly

Sitting on a bench in

The garden just now,

And watching a butterfly

Perced at the edge of

A birdbath getting a drink,

Made me think.

I couldn't help but marvel

At God's love and care

For something so fragile.

That He does take account

Of all that He has made

We know from Jesus' words

In the Sermon on the Mount,

Where he speaks of even

The fowls of the air

Being provided for.

Reflecting on our Father's

Tender love for His creation,

How my thoughts of thanks

And praise to Him do soar.

You, too, can believe

There is a book that has made a believer out of me where God's healing power is concerned.  What is this book, you ask?  It is Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.  And it can do the same for you.

This book brings to light God's goodness, power, and love, illustrating how the Bible's promises of God's ever-present help are fulfilled.  It can show you how a change in your concept of God and man -- of yourself -- can bring healing and freedom from fear and sickness.

The teachings contained in this unique volume stress that Christ Jesus' life purpose was not only to inspire but to show how to be free from every form of material bondage, physical suffering included.  He promised, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also" (John 14:12).

The discovery Mary Baker Eddy made, that matter is really a mental phenomenon, was and is revolutionary.  Though you may never have considered it in this way before, both the image of disease and its expression in the body are false beliefs about you and me -- not actual conditions.  The understanding of this fact is a potent force in destroying disease.

It is by turning thought from an inharmonious physical condition and turning to God, contemplating man's real, spiritual selfhood as God's idea, that one is restored to health and well-being.  Thank God that we are His reflection, the expression of infinite, harmonious Spirit.  Being His offspring, we include only those qualities that Spirit imparts -- peace, joy, wholeness, dominion.  By abiding in this true consciousness, we see that the fear and suffering which seemed so real have no actual power over us.  Disease is seen for what it is:  a misconception, a false state of mortal thought; it has no God-created reality.  Since we are inseparable from our heavenly Father, God, our well-being as God's reflection has never been interrupted.

As thousands upon thousands of readers of Science and Health have found to their great joy, when the divine facts that Jesus illustrated and practiced are brought into contact with one's fear, beliefs, and attitudes about illness, the result is a change of thought, a spiritualization of thought, a removing of the mental state causing the physical difficulty.  Science and Health explains:  "They physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus' time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation.  Now, as then, these mighty works are not supernatural, but supremely natural" (p. xi).