In the Christian Science Bible Lesson June 6, 2011 Issue

From fear to faith

For the lesson titled "God the preserver of man" from June 6–12, 2011

By Genelle Austin-Lett

In studying this week’s Bible Lesson, titled “God the Preserver of Man,” we find solutions to many fears facing our world today. Jesus’ warning about the destruction of both the Temple and Jerusalem (Luke 21, citation 24) looks like present-day headlines about wars, insurrections, earthquakes, and famines. Jesus cautions the disciples to remain alert—don’t be misled or fascinated by signs, but stay God-centered. 

Do we move our focus immediately to God when faced with crumbling economies, revolutions, and natural disasters? This Lesson shows us how to turn it all over to God, not leaving anything up to our own discretion, or giving God direction on how to handle things. 

There are many ways to unpack this Lesson, but let’s look at two. One definition for faith is man’s “yes” to God (Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. 2, p. 222). As you study this Lesson, you can look at all the opportunities to turn fear (a “no” to God) into faith. Another possibility is to see how each quality from the following definition of “the kingdom of heaven” in Science and Health is developed throughout the Lesson: “Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love—the kingdom of heaven—reign within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until they finally disappear” (p. 248, cit. 30). 