Editorial December 4, 1915 Issue

Transformation

Annie M. Knott

That a great change is needed in human character, individual and collective, few would deny, even if the demand were pressed home in each case; but there would doubtless be great diversity of opinion as to how this needed improvement can be effected, and few would be willing to meet unshrinkingly the divine requirement, which never stops short of perfection. When a very learned and religious man came to Christ Jesus, seeking new light on the important questions of life, the great Teacher swept aside all trivialities with the demand, "Ye must be born again." According to this decision it is not enough to make certain changes here and there in character; the mortal concept must be given up, and life must begin anew with the divine idea as its foundation. There is almost contempt in these words of the Master: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," nothing more; it is that which sins, suffers, and dies; but thought is immediately lifted above it to "that which is born of the Spirit."

In direct line with this teaching of the Master we find St. Paul saying, "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind," and in this statement we have a hint of both process and result. Transformation implies a complete change in nature and character, and in the process, as Mrs. Eddy explains, "belief melts into spiritual understanding, and sin, disease, and death disappear" (Science and Health, p. 442). She adds that then "the material, transformed with the ideal, disappears;" and it is toward this result that all true Christian Scientists are bending their energies. If we ever make the mistake of standing still, forgetful that we are yet largely controlled by material sense, we shall surely be roused from our lethargy by that unceasing demand of Truth, "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."

At every step of the way Christ Jesus, our great Exemplar, was teaching those who were willing to hear him, how they must put off mortal sense if they would gain spiritual freedom. On page 49 of Science and Health our revered Leader says that though he was "charged with the grandest trust of heaven," yet he was "ready to be transformed by the renewing of the infinite Spirit." Are we as ready to meet the problem of each hour, desiring only to throw off more and more the burden of mortal belief and to be changed into the perfect likeness of the perfect Father?

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Among the Churches