Nearness to God

HORTENSE C. WOLFE

"Nearness, " as defined by a dictionary, means "state or quality of being near; closely akin or related to; not distant (place or degree)." The nearness of the real man to God is inevitable, on account of the very nature of the relationship between God and man as divine Principle and spiritual idea. The Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, makes it clear that man is the reflection of God, the perfect expression of God. Thus, through reflection, man is one with God, as the ray of light is one with the sun. This unity with God, this at-one-ment of man with the Father, constitutes man's divine sonship, and shows how "closely akin or related to" his Father-Mother God is man, the perfect child of God. God is consequently very near. He is always present, because He is infinite, boundless, immeasurable. Therefore, God cannot for an instant be separated from His idea, man; He can never be absent from His creation or idea.

As we gain the understanding of man's true relationship to God, there comes the realization of our spiritual oneness with God. It is our ignorance of what God is, and what our relationship to Him is; it is the error of believing in many gods, of not ascribing power to God alone, that seems to separate us from the Father. Mrs. Eddy writes on page 596 of Science and Health, "Paganism and agnosticism may define Deity as 'the great unknowable;' but Christian Science brings God much nearer to man, and makes Him better known as the All-in-all, forever near."

Nearness to God is realized in proportion as our ignorance of God and His relationship to His idea, man, is supplanted with understanding. As we give up materiality, or belief in matter, and "have no other Mind but His,—no other Love, wisdom, or Truth, no other sense of Life, and no consciousness of the existence of matter or error" (Science and Health, p. 206); as we obey His commandments and love Him with all our soul and all our mind, we consciously come near to Him.

On page 4 of "Unity of Good" Mrs. Eddy says, "He is near to them who adore Him." We cannot adore God while hating our brother, holding to thoughts of envy, malice, revenge, selfishness, ingratitude, or any other thought which does not proceed from God. As the image and likeness of God, man reflects God's nature, God's qualities or attributes. Every time we become irritated, impatient, or unloving, we are separating ourselves in belief from the one omnipotent, omnipresent divine Mind. As our affections become more spiritual, we approach or draw near to infinite divine Love. "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth," declares the Psalmist.

In the story of the prodigal son, it was the son who separated himself from the father, and from the good that was rightfully his as a son, by wandering away from his father's house. So, we too in belief separate ourselves from the Father, deprive ourselves of His goodness, love, and protection, by straying from the Father's house, from divine consciousness, by believing in mortal mind and its so-called substance. The father never left the son. He was ever waiting; and when, after suffering, the son "came to himself" and decided to return, the father saw him even when he was a great way off, and ran and kissed him.

So we may realize that our Father-Mother God is ever at hand as we turn from error and give up our beliefs in so-called mortal mind, acknowledging His allness. Then we too are consciously embraced in the goodness of our Father, taken into His house (divine consciousness), and find that we are ever with Him. Thus, as the prodigal son was reconciled to his father, so are we reconciled to God. This reconciliation is brought about by the understanding of man's sonship or unity with the Father. And thus is God's nearness realized.

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