God Is All

The title of this article states something basic to understanding God. At first reading, it may seem unbelievable. But countless individuals, myself included, have found in it both restoration and maintenance of health and harmony in their lives.

My dictionary defines God in part as "the supreme reality; the ruler of the universe." And it defines supreme as "highest in rank or authority." What greater statement can be made about God than that? There can hardly be any opposing power to One who is supreme.

God rules the universe. Any opposing power would have to be unlike Him. Because He is Spirit, which the Bible makes plain, anything unlike Him would be unspiritual -- material. But since God is omnipotent, materiality, anything contrary to God, must be impotent either to bless or to harm us. Only God has influence of any kind.

The Bible introduces the concept of God being All. Throughout it depicts Him, among other things, as the creator, as almighty, as a refuge, as power, as gracious and merciful, as King and Judge, as faithful, and as loving. These terms point to God's beneficence. They illustrate the nature of God as discerned and taught by Christ Jesus. They also indicate God's closeness to us. It is practical for us to call on Him to govern our lives, no matter how troubling our problems may be.

Christian Science, which explains the Bible, makes understanding God's authority practical to humankind. Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science a little over a hundred years ago, published her major work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, in 1875. It says: "The Scriptures imply that God is All-in-all. From this it follows that nothing possesses reality nor existence except the divine Mind and His ideas. The Scriptures also declare that God is Spirit. Therefore in Spirit all is harmony, and there can be no discord; all is Life, and there is no death. Everything in God's universe expresses Him" (p. 331).

As one's understanding of God as All expands through study of the Bible and through a desire to follow its teachings, he or she comes to see that God is in complete control of everything that really exists. God made all creation good (see Genesis 1:31). The Scriptures record many examples of Jesus' healings, which came from his clear understanding of God as the omnipotent creator of good alone.

The conviction that God is All is able to improve anyone's daily affairs. We can have physical healing of the kind Jesus accomplished, for instance. When I was suffering from recurrent bouts with the flu, I prayed for the clear conviction that God is all-power. I reasoned that God didn't first make me good and then subject me to discord. Rather, He made me always to be good, perfect, complete, and whole. What God created is not material in any way but entirely spiritual. What is spiritual is immune from illness or any other evil. Holding to this line of understanding resulted in a complete healing for me, and I've not had the flu in the more than thirty years since.

When you have the knowledge that God is All, each aspect of your life is improved. There is no problem that Christian Science does not address -- and solve. It has also provided me with safety while traveling, healed me of headaches and the effects of a stroke, enabled me to excel as a student, and led me to productive employment.

The news that God is infinite is among the most important of Christ Jesus' teachings. According to the book of Luke in the Bible, Jesus told his disciples, "Be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you" (10:11). Further on he told where to find this state of thought: "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (17:20, 21). In the book Miscellaneous Writings, Mary Baker Eddy elaborated on Jesus' words: " 'The kingdom of God cometh not with observation' (with knowledge obtained from the senses), but 'the kingdom of God is within you,' -- within the present possibilities of mankind" (p. 251).

You can place your life under God's control by devoting time and study to understanding how God is All. No evil can stand against this powerful truth.