To the person who finds himself wondering, "What is the purpose of my life", Christian Science replies, God's noblest work, man, has a noble reason for existing.
Walking across a college campus one day, I happened to glance up at a stately building and saw these words from the Bible carved on the side: "What is man, that thou art mindful of him?" "What indeed!" I couldn't help thinking of Mary Baker Eddy, whose discoveries about God and man make it possible for anyone to gain a life-transforming understanding of the unlimited, forever developing spiritual identity he in reality is.
Christian Science explains that man, whom Spirit, God, made in His image, is the nonphysical, eternal expression of God's nature. Therefore, spiritual man is Godlike--in full possession of every quality essential to joy, dominion, freedom, purpose, achievement. These qualities are not gifts occasionally bestowed upon certain individuals by a heavenly Father who loves some more than others. They are the reflection of God, impartial divine Love, and so the birthright of all His offspring.
The Bible tells us, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God." As God's own child, HIs spiritual, perfect reflection, you and I simply must be useful, for man expresses the endless activity of God. The belief that are are not or cannot be useful is aggressive, erroneous suggestion and therefore can be scientifically overcome with the truth of being. Jesus was alway "about [his] Father's business." And so must we be--without frustration, fear, or limitation.
Neither employer, family, nor anyone else for that matter, can give us real purpose. God alone does this. Consequently, the changes that go on in the human scene cannot take away our individual worth or reason for being The passage of time, for example, can never make us obsolete to God. All there really is to what we call time is what God, divine Mind, measures as upholding good. Being God-given and infinite, good has no beginning or end Therefore our usefulness is as eternal as the good we know and do.
How does a person go about realizing his true purpose and usefulness? Through spiritually mental means, through prayerful utilization of the truths Christ Jesus taught and employed so successfully. When we find ourselves longing to express ourselves more fully, but every step we take dead-ends and there is nothing good on our horizon, we always have recourse to the truth of being. Jesus' revolutionary teaching on the whereabouts of all good can lift our thought to see the infinite possibilities ever at hand. He explained, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."
Opportunity is within. It is not contingent upon human contacts or favorable circumstances, but on what we understand and bring out of that inner kingdom and of our spiritual relationship to God. Thus you and I ultimately determine our own advancing usefulness--and not people and circumstances, as is often believed. And we do this through communion with God, through what we realize and utilize of spiritual truths.
For example, realizing that man is God's noblest handiwork, we should increasingly free ourselves from the mesmerism of self-depreciation, which often poses as a virtue, as an aspect of humility. This self-restricting, limited thinking would circumscribe the good we can do for mankind by impeding our individual expression of God's infinite capabilities. Mrs Eddy point out in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "One must fulfill one's mission without timidity or dissimulation, for to be well done, the work just be done unselfishly."
Divine Science inspires us to stand up for the real man, for the man we actually are, and to declare unlimited ability for this man of God's creating. In reality we exist as Mind's representatives. Consequently, each one of us is entitled to feel needed, to live confidently, to see his talents freed for creative function.
The Bible declares, "I have covered thee in the shadow of my hand." It's comforting to realize that God protects us and our purpose. As we grow in the consciousness of unity with our Maker as His indispensable man, each of us is assured our secure place and progressive activity. Understanding our individual place in His creation, we cannot be forgotten, lost in the crowd, swallowed up in a morass of policies, practices, and programs. Understanding our divine purpose to express God's nature, we find our careers are governed by God, directed and sustained by His unchanging, divine law.
As God's nobles work, we all have our God-appointed place and purpose. No one else can fill that place, nor can we carry out another's mission. Mrs. Eddy writes, "Each individual must fill his own niche in time and eternity." You and I have a divine right to purposeful, fulfilling activity--now and forever.
