In the Christian Science Bible Lesson February 11, 2013 Issue

Satisfying the longing heart

For the Lesson titled "Soul" from February 11 - 17, 2013

Christa Kreutz

Do you long with your soul to feel God’s presence? Do you long to be free of sin, sickness, or fear? Well, you’re not alone, and this week’s Bible Lesson, titled “Soul,” is prepared for you!

The authors of Psalms also expressed great yearning. Section 1 opens with Psalm 84, where the author cries that his “soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord” (verse 2, citation 1). And Psalms 119:174 says, “I have longed for thy salvation” (cit. 11). How natural it is to yearn to feel close to good, because that is our home, our true nature. It is a desire to know one’s true identity. This Lesson offers some guidance—it shows us that our yearnings are rewarded by finding our identity in Soul, God.

One of the first things we learn is that we are not a creation of matter or material history. Our true identity is not tied to time or space. While we may think we are the sum of a particular mortal history, Mary Baker Eddy writes, “… matter can make no conditions for man” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 120, cit. 8). Our being is independent of matter.