Free-under God's government
THE thought of being governed by an all-wise, loving God may seem appealing, yet unrelated to the realities of day-to-day existence. When circumstances claim to wield authority in our lives and to force us into certain directions, God can certainly seem distant. But God isn't distant, precisely because He is God. He is omnipresent, supreme Spirit, who governs His creation wisely and maintains man's freedom. The challenge is to discern and prove this.
A limited, materialistic sense of life can't perceive the reality of God's nearness. But spiritual receptivity, something we can all cultivate through humble prayer and greater purity, does comprehend God's love for man and the tangibleness of His blessings. And this opens the way to progress. It enables us to gain at least some degree of dominion over the circumstances that would imprison us. Regardless of the severity of a situation, the spiritual fact of man's inseparability from God does have authority over the impositions of carnal thinking.
In many countries people feel limited by repressive forms of government, by the injustice that misguided systems would impose on innocence. What can they and we do about it? Clearly, we all need to place our trust in a higher form of government. We need to realize that despite unjust policies, each individual has a relationship to Almighty God that supersedes all others. And that relationship, by its very nature, carries with it liberty. So even in the face of hopeless injustice, individuals can begin to find freedom.
''The kingdom of God is within you,''n1 Christ Jesus taught. To begin to trust this fact, to hold to it in prayer-to insist on it-is to begin to feel its reality. Individuals can, even if gradually, find peace within and a certainty of God's power. And this must be followed by a greater experiencing of freedom. We may not know how this will come about in a particular instance, but we can trust in the fact that ''the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.''n2
n1 Luke 17:21.
n2 Isaiah 33:22.
The understanding that man is governed by God is vital to all of us, whatever our nationality or race, whatever our circumstances. Do we, for example, feel dominated by a friend or relative? Or by an employer? Do we feel victimized by a particular sin or by a relentless physical condition? If so, a step toward freedom can be taken as we insist that absolutely nothing can separate us from God's government.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes: ''Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing else. God's being is infinity , freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss. 'Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.' ''n3
n3 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 481.
We're not, in truth, victimized mortals, tributary to other mortals. We're not fragile personalities at the mercy of some tyrannical condition. We belong to God, are subordinate to God alone, because man is God's immortal, blessed offspring. Worldly thinking denies this, but worldly thinking, the carnal mind, is aliar.
A major factor, then, in humanity's release from tyranny is the recognition that man can't be separated from his creator. God alone governs us, is our very Mind. Wicked influences have no true intelligence. They have no divine authority, no kingdom. Their ultimate self-destruction is therefore assured, and we can all take part in proving this. DAILY BIBLE VERSE Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever. Isaiah 26:3, 4
