"The power of an endless life"

Underlying, permeating, and supporting all true being is the infinite, divine power, which cannot be depicted or destroyed. Speaking of God, the Psalmist said (Ps. 66:7 ), "He ruleth by his power for ever."

Christian Science presents the truth of creation, as set forth in the first chapter of Genesis. There it is proclaimed that God made all that was made, including man, and that He made it very good. Man, then, has nothing to do with matter or flesh. He is perfect, spiritual, and everlasting because he is made by God, eternal good.

It is futile and indeed harmful to think of man as formed by material or mortal means and hence subject to physical laws of growth, decay, and death. Discord, deterioration, and dissolution do not touch the real man. They pertain only to the false or counterfeit sense of man. Materiality and mortality do not enter into the description of our real selfhood, which exists in and is empowered by God forever.

That which creates all is God, whom we understand in Christian Science to be Life eternal. Then Life is the only cause, the only Maker of man. Life creates man of its own spiritual substance. There is nothing else in God's being to use in the creation of His universe, including man. And what is the nature of God's essence—of the substance that forms the identity of man? Obviously it cannot be mortal. Since God is Spirit, and is eternal, man is spiritual and eternal. Limits are not included in God's being.

Man is sustained by the power that treated him. He is, then, sustained by the power of Life, God. The author of Hebrews, speaking of a priest who should arise "after the similitude of Melchisedec," pictures him as "made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life" (7:16 ).

To the degree that we assert our true birthright as sons of Life, God, and allow "the power of an endless life" to control our thoughts, we are able to destroy the mortal beliefs of sin, disease, and death. We have authority to exclude from our thoughts and experience all that is inconsistent with divine Life. Disease and discord are both inconsistent with divine Life and with Life's power, plan, and specification for man.

Life being exclusively harmonious cannot create inharmony in man. Hence, inharmony in our daily round of activity is contrary to Life's law. God's law is universal, infinite, omnipotent, eternal, and the individual who consents to operate under the control of His law is mightily blessed.

Paul, writing of Christ Jesus' experience, declares (II Cor. 13: 4 ): "Though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you."

The power of God, divine Life, is actually the only power by which we exist. God is the true and exclusive power and presence. The Master was subject to this power. It enabled him to overcome death and the grave. It enabled him to heal discords of all kinds. The authority—the power and presence which he utilized in his healing work—was the Christ. This same force or influence enables those who understand God as Life, Truth, and Love and man as His perfect reflection to heal and save today.

"God, Life, Truth, and Love make man undying," affirms Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health (p. 427 ). All that can ever be destroyed is a false concept of man. Man made in God's likeness cannot be extinguished. Only that which is ungodlike, that which we all should readily agree is undesirable, is capable of destruction in our experience. Included in the undesirable beliefs which must eventually be destroyed are inharmony, hatred, revenge, sin, disease, fear, ignorance, and limitation.

Is not the destruction of undesirable beliefs an end which we should welcome? This result can be and is being gained in the measure that Life, God, is comprehended. The power of endless Life is the power of perfect being. As we grow in spiritual understanding, we can demonstrate this power as operative today.

Discussing the support which man has from the power and presence of Life, Truth, and Love, Mrs. Eddy says (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 77 ), "This is the Father's great Love that He hath bestowed upon us, and it holds man in endless Life and one eternal round of harmonious being."

In order to enjoy the blessing of endless Life, we must reject the belief that man is a mortal sinner. Sinfulness does not belong to man, made in God's image and likeness. It belongs only to mortal man, the supposititious creation of mortal mind. But the mortal is put off as we accept our true status as the immortal sons of God. We must sooner or later acknowledge that we are perfect even as our "Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48 ). To the extent that we understand infinite perfection, we prove that we are subject to "the power of an endless life."