It's About You

PEOPLE are searching for answers to everyday questions and to questions that aren't so everyday. It's natural to yearn to know more about ourselves. But to really learn who we are, we need to learn more about our true and only self, our spiritual self. Understanding our spiritual selfhood can have a surprising effect on our lives--can transform and heal us.

The Bible is a book that's about your genuine, spiritual identity. And there's another book that's about you. It's a book full of spiritual facts that renew, redeem, regenerate. This book is Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy.

Science and Health is about you, about me, about everyone, because it teaches us of our indestructible spiritual selfhood. It's a key to the Scriptures that elucidates the teachings contained in the Bible. As you understand the Bible's messages, even a little, you are learning who you really are. In fact, in Genesis, the very first chapter of the Bible, we find the assurance ''God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him'' (1:27). You are God's image and likeness. That is your true selfhood.

Science and Health helps us gain a spiritual understanding of God and of ourselves as His spiritual creation, man. This message is directly from God. In The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, Mrs. Eddy humbly admits of her authorship of Science and Health: ''I should blush to write of 'Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures' as I have, were it of human origin, and were I, apart from God, its author. But, as I was only a scribe echoing the harmonies of heaven in divine metaphysics, I cannot be super-modest in my estimate of the Christian Science textbook'' (p. 115).

This textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health, presents the law of God--the very law that enabled Christ Jesus to heal. We need to understand God's law, because it's what governs our lives, whether we know it or not. Jesus showed us the wonderful freedom and harmony of a life lived in obedience to God's laws. We can follow in his footsteps and feel that spiritual freedom and the healing this kind of living brings.

There was a time when my yearning to know more about God was so strong that I'd go to my room and stay up late studying and praying. I had a lot of questions about who I was and where I was going. Because I was raised as a Christian Scientist, it was natural for me to search the Bible and Science and Health. Up to that point I hadn't really studied these books much, even though I had always had them around.

The more I read, the more I learned. The more I learned, the happier I became. Until, finally, one day I noticed that the fears and concerns that brought me to such deep yearning had faded away. Learning that I was created in God's image brought me satisfaction, and from that point on my life took on new meaning. It's hard to put into words how I changed. Indecision, lack of self-worth, and doubt yielded naturally to more decisiveness, a clearer understanding of my true selfhood, and trust in God. I had been transformed. I'm still working on it. But now I know that whatever I'm facing, I can find my answer by turning to God as the Bible and Science and Health explain. These two books have made a difference in my life. They can make a difference in yours.

Mrs. Eddy spent years writing and revising the Christian Science textbook in order to state clearly the Bible's spiritual concepts. Her own life proved the truth of what she wrote. Because of Mrs. Eddy's selflessness, you and I can prove the healing power of these same laws and rules for ourselves.

It takes some effort to do this. We need to respond to Mrs. Eddy's urging in Science and Health: ''Take divine Science. Read this book from beginning to end. Study it, ponder it'' (p. 559). Science and Health is for you to take, to read--to help you grow spiritually. It's for you and it's about you. What you learn about yourself as God's idea can turn your life around.

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