Freedom from sickness

Some of the freedoms that many people long for, others already have and don't give a lot of thought to. For instance, freedom of assembly or freedom of religion. But there is one freedom that cannot be assured by law or constitution and that almost every person on the face of this little spinning globe at least gives thought to: freedom from sickness --freedom to be well and whole.

Some may say that it is not possible to be completely free from sickness or the fear of sickness; that we may be well now, but at any moment we might fall ill; and if we are ill now there is no assurance that we will ever be well again. And it may appear to many that the overall pitiful condition of the human race more than verifies this view.

But no one has to be sick any more than he has to be dishonest. Sickness is not inherent in man. It is, in a fundamental way, self-imposed. And there is a law of God that enables us to relinquish this imposition. Christ Jesus proved the certainty of release when through spiritual power alone he healed people of their suffering and restored them to useful lives. One tender example is his healing of the bedridden victim of palsy, whose friends dismantled the roof tiles of a house and lowered him down before the Master, who was surrounded by a throng of people.n1

n1 See Luke 5:18-26.

The law of God is expressed in the first commandment, ''Thou shalt have no other gods before me.''n2 God is infinite good. He is all power and presence. God is Life, Truth, and Love, as the Bible implies. To obey the spirit of the first commandment means that we accept this infinite goodness as the only power and presence. It also means that we accept the Biblical truth that man is the pure and perfect likeness of God.

n2 Exodus 20:3.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes: ''The first demand of this Science is, 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' This me is Spirit. Therefore the command means this: Thou shalt have no intelligence, no life, no substance, no truth, no love, but that which is spiritual.''n3 It was because Jesus meekly yielded to the infiniteness of the one God, Spirit, that he was able to heal others, like the palsied man, and to keep himself healthy.

n3 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 467.

Most people consider matter and its conditions to be the reality of life, and without a doubt, it does seem to be so. Yet to our innate spiritual sense Spirit , God, and not matter, is the ultimate reality. As we listen to our spiritual sense we come to glimpse, perhaps dimly at first and then more clearly, that Spirit and its perfect spiritual creation are the only reality. The almost universally held belief that matter is true substance and that we're imprisoned by its conditions lessens gradually in our thought, and we become more aware of God.

So to have freedom from sickness is more than having physical health or mental health in the common sense of those terms. It is to have holiness. It is to yield somewhat to the truth of God's utter allness. It is to give the right of way in our consciousness to a spiritual understanding of God, which is something we can all demonstrate more and more. In fact, this understanding can be cultivated by humble study of the Bible and the writings of Mrs. Eddy. She says, ''The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God, --a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love.''n4

n4 Ibid., p. 1.

The evening before I was to conduct an important all-day meeting, symptoms of a cold began to show up. My voice was rapidly being affected, and my first thought was what terrible timing it was for a cold. Then I knew I could pray and be healed. I realized in prayer that as God's image I was actually spiritual, not material, and that matter couldn't determine my well-being. I saw that God, Love, is infinite and that man is His perfect reflection. This became sweetly true to me, not just a pleasant theory; and as it did, all the symptoms dissolved.

Freedom from sickness is not a special privilege or a stroke of luck. It is the practical and provable result of understanding and obeying God's law, which every person on earth can today begin to enjoy. DAILY BIBLE VERSE The Lord will take away from thee all sickness. Deuteronomy 7:15