Explorers Are Still Needed
TODAY there are few places left to be discovered. Those that remain--such as on the ocean bottom and in space--don't offer practical opportunities for most of us. There are, however, many areas of thought and experience to be explored and developed. One area that needs deeper pursuit is the practical, spiritual purpose of Christ Jesus' life. Many of us know something about Christ Jesus. But how many of us have fully explored the implications of his teachings and healings for our own lives and for the wor ld?
Christ Jesus taught that the kingdom of heaven, the realm of harmony, is at hand. And he showed us that this kingdom is spiritual. He did this by demonstrating the supremacy of spiritual power over material beliefs. He healed chronic disease, for example, restored crippled bodies to wholeness, freed people from sin, and even raised the dead--all through an understanding of God's power to heal and save.
Because they radically affirmed the presence and power of Spirit, of God, Jesus' healings were startling to his contemporaries--and remain so to many today. When, for example, Jesus healed a man who was mentally unbalanced, onlookers said, Mark's Gospel records: ``What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him. Such healings demonstrate that the eternal Christ presence opens the door of human thought to the realm of Spirit, t he realm of the real. Spiritual harmony is always at hand, but it is unseen by material sense. Christ, Truth, is the way by which mankind discovers, explores, and then demonstrates the allness of God, good.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, discovered the practical effectiveness of the Christian healing the Bible speaks of when she was restored to health as a result of reading one of Jesus' healings. She dedicated her life to exploring and conveying to others the practical import of what Jesus had taught. This is the Science of Christ, or Christian Science, which gives purpose and direction to our spiritual explorations.
What is the purpose of our own individual search? Isn't it to glorify God and to benefit mankind? Selfishness is never the way of Christ and doesn't enter into God's glory.
Praise of God and living a moral life certainly honor God, good. And we also glorify God, Spirit, by demonstrating the power of Truth to destroy disease, lack, sin, suffering, or any other evil. Such Christian healing is never solely for our own benefit. Christ Jesus' deep message to love one another urges us to labor for the freedom of mankind.
Mrs. Eddy's reply to a correspondent might be seen as an invitation to join this great exploration of the realm of the real. It's recorded in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany: ``Bear with me the burden of discovery and share with me the bliss of seeing the risen Christ, God's spiritual idea that takes away all sin, disease, and death, and gives to soul its native freedom.
We all have the opportunity to participate in spiritual exploration. Neither Christianity nor Christian Science is for armchair travelers, however. They both are for those willing to leave their old homes--their old habits of thinking--behind and to embrace the heights of spiritual being. As we go forward, we help others to follow in the spiritual path that Christ Jesus blazed before us.
