True Security
WHERE crime and violence are apparently on the increase, security becomes a growing concern. Where can we look for a greater measure of security and freedom from fear? Many people have found the Bible is a good place to begin. It gives us examples of people who have turned to God and found protection from threatening situations. God is always a reliable strength in times of trouble. The Bible affirms, ``The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.''1
This promise of God's power and His love for His people was fulfilled in Christ Jesus' life and teachings. Wherever he went, the Master brought to light the truth of God's saving presence. This was security that flowed from living in conformity with God. In the simplest, practical terms one could say that Jesus is known as the Saviour because he showed so plainly the capacity of his Father to save and protect. Through his own sinlessness he was able to liberate men and women. His followers began to glimpse their own sinless, spiritual nature as God's children. And we can see in the New Testament record the true security this brings.
Christ, the divine idea of God, which Jesus expressed so fully, is still here to free us from the fears and anxieties that attend a material sense of existence. As we respond to the touch of the Christ, we awake to recognize more of the fact of our spiritual identity and being at one with God. As God's children we each have unique spiritual identity, which God ratifies with His seal of approval. We are all precious in God's sight, and His seal affirms our true identity in His image and gives power to resist and surmount evil.
Paul explains, ``Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.''2 Christians should feel the strong impress of the spirit of God in their hearts surrounding them with God's love and impelling them to express this love.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, felt God's protecting presence in her own life. When she was healed after a severe accident by turning to her Bible, she gained a new understanding of her spiritual identity in God's likeness. She writes, ``When it is learned that spiritual sense and not the material senses convey all impressions to man, man will naturally seek the Science of his spiritual nature, and finding it, be God-endowed for discipleship.''3 Christian Science shows us that everyone has spiritual sense and can exercise it. Earnestly seeking to recognize everyone's true spiritual nature as God's likeness and living the Christly qualities of humility, obedience, and compassion, day by day, equip us to bring comforting assurances of God's love to our families and to the community.
As we strive to overcome sin in ourselves by disciplining thought and living strictly by Christian ethics, we find we have far less fear of evil's claim to dominate the world. This gradual spiritualization of thought lets in the light of Christ, and we experience the very real security and freedom of life in God. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mrs. Eddy observes, ``In divine Science, which is the seal of Deity and has the impress of heaven, God is revealed as infinite light.''4 True security will be established as mankind begins to trust God, divine Love.
1Zephaniah 3:17. 2II Corinthians 1:21, 22. 3The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 188. 4Science and Health, p. 511.
This is a condensed version of an editorial that appeared in the September 18, 1989, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.
