The great drama: our continuing role
IT was late in a long winter. The line of cars winding into the city had forced me to a crawl. A stack of file cards awaitd me at work, and the information I was to record on them was not exciting. My life seemed as gloomy as the concrete strip I had driven over so many times before. Still, with Easter approaching it was a time when Christians are especially mindful of the mission of Christ Jesus. I wanted to appreciate Jesus' ministry more deeply, especially its concluding events. What was the deep import of the crucifixion and resurrection? Was Jesus' atonement just a doctrine to me, requiring only faith and gratitud? Or was it also a spiritual mandate even on an ordinary day like this?
Speaking of the work of Christ Jesus, Paul said, ``And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under hi, that God may be all in all.''1
That the mighty God of the Bible is All-in-all, Jesus clearly showed. Rising from the grave, he demonstrated a oneness with God unbroken even by suffering and death. His great sacrifice opened the way for us progressiely to discover the unity with God that we, in our true spiritual selfhood, also possess.
Jesus drew aside the veil of appearance that would have us believe life is inconsequential. His victory showed that God, good, is All even in the face of evil's fierce assaults. Surely, then, God is All even in daily living, when good can seem distant at best.
When we live from the standpoint of our unity with God, no day is without purpose. We can always challenge what would claim to diminish His power. In his way we play a continuing role in the spiritual drama through which good is found present and concrete. Mary Baker Eddy2 writes: ``If Truth is overcoming error in your daily walk and conversation, you can finally say, `I have fought a good fight...I have kept the faith,' because you are a better man. This is having our part in the at-one-ment with Truth and Love.''3
My gloominess appeared to be the result of bad weather, routine, overfamiliar surroundings. But, more basically, it was the result of the belief that I was a finite person in a world without much significance. For all its plausibility, such a view is terribly deceptive.
God's creation isn't what it appears to be to uninspired thought, because His creation can only express the richness and pure goodness of His nature. The spiritual reality of creation is never absent or blank. Nor is our true being as God's expression ever less than the satisfied witness to His fullness. We can rise in His power, then, to overthrow whatever overshadows His goodness.
I accepted the challenge to subdue the claim that good was dim, less available than evil. Quickened by spiritual resolve, I found the tedium of my work lessened and the camaraderie of the workplace was enriched. There were even moments of joy. And in the next few months new possibilities opened up.
Most significant, I found in the atonement a spiritual law that invites participation. As we walk in Jesus' footsteps, working out in daily living our heritage as God's offspring, we truly honor the price he paid. We also participate, to a modest degree, in the victory he won.
When we play our continuing part in this great challenge, spiritual renewal awaits us. It is as real and as promising as the crocus or the rose. It is the discovery of our true selfhood, at one with God.
1I Corinthians 15:28. 2The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. 3Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 21.
You can find more articles like this one in the Christian Science Sentinel, a weekly magazine. DAILY BIBLE VERSE: It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Philippians 2:13
