Article June 26, 1948 Issue

THE SUFFICIENCY OF GRACE AND TRUTH

JOSEPH C. GOTTSCHALK

There is a profound lesson in humility discernible in the exalting experience which the Apostle Paul narrates in his second epistle to the Christians at Corinth. He relates that three times he sought the Lord that there might depart from him that which he described as "a thorn in the flesh." Then he received God's assurance (II Cor. 12:9), "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness."

At this point one may rightfully inquire: "But is it not right to turn to God for freedom from pain and discord? Was it not the mission of Christ Jesus to heal the sick? And is it not this healing mission which Christian Science is reinstating?" The answer to all these questions is "Yes," but Mary Baker Eddy points out that physical healing is secondary to the attaining of grace and truth. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she writes (p. 150), "Now, as then, signs and wonders are wrought in the metaphysical healing of physical disease; but these signs are only to demonstrate its divine origin,—to attest the reality of the higher mission of the Christ-power to take away the sins of the world." If there are times when we, like Paul, awaken to find ourselves desiring and seeking a physical healing, or ease in matter, more than this divine influence, or grace, we should realize that complete freedom and healing will never be attained so long as one's motives stem from the sole desire to find ease and comfort in matter. We need above all else to seek grace and truth for themselves, to find them sufficient to supply all our needs.

This kind of seeking lifts thought above matter and mortal aims into the realm of Spirit, where sin and disease are unknown, and where man's conscious unity with God, his Father-Mother Mind, is realized in joy, peace, and love.

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