A Permanent Benefit Plan

Job benefits. To many people they are worth as much as a salary. Health insurance, vacation time, and retirement funding all offer people a sense of security for themselves and for their families, a safety net beneath the shaky tightrope of human existence.

But jobs come and go, employers change policies, and people retire. Nothing is guaranteed, we often say. What we really could use is a permanent benefit plan that is available to everyone and that travels with us.

In fact, we've always been covered under a plan just like that. But it's not found in the personnel department or at the Social Security office. It's God's plan. It is administered under His universal law. And it includes you and your family right now.

God, being Spirit, has created us to express His spiritual nature, free of material limitations. We can expect to perceive God's law in action, through improvements in our human lives. But in reality it's the constant presence of spiritual good that benefits us. This good is not outside us, something to be added or to be sought only when needed. It's an integral part of your and my identity as God's image and likeness.

As we recognize our spiritual identity, we see more satisfaction and prosperity. The Bible, which I would call the ultimate "benefit plan handbook," gives examples of how God's law of security applies to daily life. Read about this, for example, in Psalm 103. You'll find listed some of the benefits God has promised to each of us: healing of disease, renewed strength, accessible justice, and gentle mercy. These are benefits that not only satisfy the inner longing for spiritual peace; they meet human needs.

David, who became king of Israel, had many experiences in which he felt God's law in action, benefiting him in practical ways. On one occasion he faced a confrontation with the imposing enemy-giant named Goliath (see I Sam., Chap. 17). His friends wanted him to wear heavy armor and carry the most trusted weapons for his welfare. At first David put them on.

But then he realized that this equipment was actually interfering with the reliance on God that he recognized as so valuable. David must have known that he would fail if the emphasis in his thought was on extensive combat gear instead of spiritual arms. He removed the armor and trusted in spiritual qualities - such as steadfastness and wisdom - which he reflected from God. Through these, he defeated Goliath quickly.

In some ways we may feel like modern Davids, facing Goliaths of financial lack, degenerative disease, loneliness, uncertainty. Like David, we have the resource to defeat these enemies. This resource is God's law, which provides security for all of His creation. This law, understood and obeyed, is a permanent benefit to every individual, whether he or she realizes it or not. We become more secure in our lives when we realize God's presence through prayer and then act according to His guidance. Goliath was a formidable opponent, but when David humbly turned to God for help, he was shown the logical steps to take to resolve the crisis. In the same way, we can find spiritual guidance in our lives.

An article by the Founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, says, "God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies. Never ask for to-morrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment. What a glorious inheritance is given to us through the understanding of omnipresent Love [God]!" (Mary Baker Eddy, "Miscellaneous Writings," Pg. 307).

The law of God is ours to turn to for help. It is timeless. It's accessible to everyone, everywhere. It's beyond and above employment status, human success, or corporate generosity. The fundamental fact of our spirituality, of our identity as God's beneficiaries, guarantees our coverage under the benefit plan of divine law. No one can be without God.

Bless the Lord,

O my soul, and forget

not all his benefits.

Psalms 103:2