Article December 27, 1952 Issue

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

RALPH W. CESSNA

Speaking of the resurrection, Paul made what must have been to many a very puzzling statement when he said (I Cor. 15:31), "I die daily." In the light of Christian Science this statement loses its mystery and brings unspeakable comfort. For it is found to mean, not of course that Paul went daily through the process of death, but rather that each day he gave up some false belief regarding selfhood. It means that each of us begins anew every day his quest for salvation from the belief of mortality, fettered not by yesterday's thoughts or acts, but only by what remains with us of false beliefs. The work wrongly done or undone which may seem to have reference to the past is, in reality, today's work and capable of being done today.

There is much good in the New Year tradition which impels many to renounce bad habits and to carry out good intentions joyfully. But we can rejoice that we need not wait for another such season to begin over again the task of reform. Each new day, actually each new moment, offers opportunity to repent and advance. In the same letter Paul went on to state the chief requirement in the process of redemption (I Cor. 15:34): "Awake to righteousness, and sin not."

Mary Baker Eddy makes clear the necessity not only for repentance, but for genuine reformation, and warns against using a false assumption of forgiveness as a cloak for renewal of evil ways. But she holds out the assurance that never does the evil itself have power, never is an evil claim or act established as a fixed fact in time. It is only belief in the reality of the opposite of God that seems to result in inharmonious experience.

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