The other day I happened to read a column in a local newspaper and was interested in the account of a woman involving her health. Or lack of it. She wrote that she eats all the right food, exercises, drinks in moderation, etc. yet feels ill all the time. Her doctor isn't able to diagnose just what the trouble is.
Thinking about her perplexity and distress, couldn't help being grateful for what Christian Science teaches about health. How it encourages one to look to God for well-being. And shows one how to do this through its teachings.
Through the study of Christian Science, we are helped to see what the healing truth, the truth found in the Bible's pages. There we learn that God is omnipotent and entirely good and that man is the image and likeness of God. As the likeness of his creator, man forever expresses the divine nature. And because God is Spirit, man is spiritual. To be sure, we appear to be merely flesh and bones and subject to bodily suffering. But physicality isn't the actual or ultimate substance of our being. Life in the flesh is a misconception of man, whose real identity as the image of God is incorporeal, untouched by debilitating conditions.
The growing understanding of man's spiritual nature has a purifying effect on the body. It awakens us to the ever presence of Christ, Truth -- and the body responds to this uplifting influence. Health is restored.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures", (p. 166): "To ignore God as of little use in sickness is a mistake. Instead of thrusting Him aside in times of bodily trouble, and waiting for the hour of strength in which to acknowledge Him, we should learn that He can do a things for us in sickness as in health."
Divine healing in Christian Science is a wonderful thing to experience. You and I have a God-given right not only to enjoy sound health but to recover it through spiritual means when it is threatened. Christ Jesus has furnished us with a precedent, indicating that as we follow his example we can learn what God is and how to avail ourselves of His power. As he said "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." (John 14:12)
The Bible is full of assurances of God's' healing help. These are not empty promise;s. They come to life for us in clear-cut healing when we are equipped with practical knowledge of God's eternal law of harmony and of our relationship to Him. Empowered with the Christly understanding that a study of Christian Science brings, we can turn to God for every aspect of our well-being, including health, proving to our own satisfaction and joy, "The Lord will take away from thee all sickness." (Debut. 7:15)
