Reliable Evidence

WHEN it comes to fundamental aspects of life--our health, our well-being, our livelihood--what we know of spiritual reality deep within our hearts can actually give us a truer picture than the external signs that the senses perceive.

Since God is Spirit, He can't be seen or felt by the material senses. Yet, God's love for His creation, man, is tangible and real. We may well see evidence of His love as good things in our lives. But this is because we feel God's love deep within us first, and then we see the evidence outwardly. This certainty of God's love for His creation is what I like to think of as internal evidence--and it is spiritual evidence, which is wholly reliable.

Christ Jesus worked on the basis of this spiritual evidence, starting with man's perfect relationship to his creator, God. This fact outweighed any evidence of disease or sin, as Jesus' healing of the ten lepers illustrates.

The Bible tells us that Jesus said to these individuals, ``Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it was on their way to do this that they were healed. Certainly, Jesus wouldn't have sent them without any evidence of healing. But to onlookers the external evidence of the leprosy hadn't changed as they started to follow Jesus' instruction to have their healing verified so that they could be restored to society.

The powerful, loving presence of God was far stronger evidence than the leprosy. This spiritual evidence brought healing. This evidence is available to each of us, as Jesus pointed out when he said, ``The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: . . . for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

God is infinite Spirit--and not conceivable in material terms. So man is spiritual because God is the Father-Mother of man-- and man also is not to be found in matter. The only way to understand the man of God's creating is to look deeply into the nature of God. Then we can see what man is.

The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, sometimes uses the word invisible to describe God. But His power, though unseen, is felt in our lives, as Mrs. Eddy makes clear in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures when she says: ``Spirit blesses man, but man cannot `tell whence it cometh.' By it the sick are healed, the sorrowing are comforted, and the sinning are reformed. These are the effects of one universal God, the invisible good dwelling in eternal Science.

When personal or physical problems appear, it can seem difficult to see any evidence of God's presence. Yet, spiritual discipline and wholehearted prayer can bring health and peace even when every shred of material evidence points to the contrary.

I have a friend who proved this for himself. He sustained a painful leg injury. It's this man's practice to treat illness and injury through prayer--so that's what he did in this case. But after several days of treatment, he still could put no weight on the leg. An acquaintance, noticing my friend's injury, engaged him in a conversation that left my friend quite discouraged over his prospects.

That night, while everyone else slept, my friend studied the last ten chapters of the book of Isaiah. By the time he'd finished reading the wonderful praises and promises of God in those chapters, he felt within that he was healed. Although there appeared to be little change in his condition the next morning, that did not daunt his uplifted feeling that he had, in fact, been healed. In just a couple of days, all evidence of the injury was gone.

Looking to the most reliable evidence--spiritual, true evidence--can make a real difference in our daily lives.