Article September 3, 1938 Issue

The Function of Gratitude in Spiritual Healing

EDWIN STANLEY LEONARD, Jr.

Of the function of gratitude in the spiritual healing of disease and death, Jesus gave an impressive instance when he stood before the tomb of Lazarus and gave thanks that God had heard him, before any slightest evidence of the healing was manifest to human sense. Lazarus had lain in the grave four days. Martha and Mary and the host of their friends and kinsmen had mournfully performed for him what they thought to be the last rites. Yet, in the face of this evidence, Jesus could stand in serene confidence, with thought uplifted in gratitude for the answer to his prayer, no matter what weight of contrary evidence might be presenting itself.

In offering his thanks to God that God heard him always, Jesus gave direct expression to this confidence. The strong, undismayed, and potent understanding of God's allness, and the consequent nothingness of any material suggestion, must inevitably destroy every appearance of discord. He knew that nothing could destroy the life of Lazarus; that there is no death, and that nothing needed to be done to alter the condition of the real man, the only man. He gave remarkable proof of this knowledge in the calm command, "Lazarus, come forth." He did not need the testimony of the material senses to convince himself of the unreality of death. And Lazarus' resurrection was the inevitable result of his serene conviction that God is the only Life.

The fundamental facts of being upon which Jesus rested his healing of Lazarus, as attested by the whole tenor of his ministry, are available to everyone who will accept and utilize them today. As Christian Scientists we are aware of the deathless identity of the spiritual man in God's image and likeness. We can say, with Paul, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." And we accept and declare the statements of Mary Baker Eddy (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 468), "All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all," and that "therefore man is not material; he is spiritual." What prevents us, then, from giving such immediate and striking proofs of this knowledge as Jesus gave? One reason is that we need a more Christlike confidence in the reality of the truths we utter. We, too, need to manifest more of that serene reliance on the divine fact which can give thanks for the accomplishment of a healing even before it is manifest to human sense.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Changing the Evidences