Article November 25, 1916 Issue

Spiritual Awakening

BRIGMAN C. ODOM

CLEAN hands and a pure heart are requisite to communion with the ever present Father. To reflect Love and at the same time to harbor thoughts of resentment is foreign to reason. The psalmist said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Things that are wholly at variance cannot dwell together, for as our Master declared, "No man can serve two masters." According to Christian Science, spiritual man, the image and likeness of his Maker, is as free from infection as are the stars. A mortal awaking to this truth finds himself on the highway leading to complete emancipation from error. This indicates that the process of regeneration is one of spiritual awakening.

The seers of the Old Testament caught occasional glimpses of spiritual truth and made practical use of it. Abraham, through his acute spiritual sense, was awakened to a recognition of God as the Almighty, a God who is all-power. The perception of God as omnipotent was the beginning of Abraham's fitness to be a father of many nations, and the mark of his greatness was his ready and willing obedience to every call of duty. The liberal educational training of Moses—his varied experience in human affairs, his good judgment, his courageous nature, coupled with his spiritual discernment—made him a safe spiritual guide and counselor. The special work of Isaiah was to emphasize the mission of Israel. He saw clearly the spiritual ideal, and strove to lift the thought of his people to an apprehension of that spiritual reality. Isaiah made forceful appeal for complete turning away from all unrighteous living, and strongly urged the necessity for an awakened and enlightened sense of glories and realities supernal. He said, "The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever."

Christ Jesus was "the way, the truth, and the life;" hence he was able to present a ministry applicable for all time to the physical and spiritual needs of humanity. Mrs. Eddy says, "Jesus taught the way of Life by demonstration, that we may understand how this divine Principle heals the sick, casts out error, and triumphs over death" (Science and Health, p. 25). He it was who declared : "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." This brazen serpent, upon which those bitten by poisonous reptiles could look and be healed, was symbolic of the spiritual teachings of the uplifted thought of Jesus the Christ.

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