Article June 22, 1981 Issue

You have authority: use it!

JULIUS EVANS

What happens if someone with authority refuses to exercise it or doesn't know how? Such command may soon be lost or cease to have any meaning.

Christian Science teaches that we, in our real being, are God's spiritual expression, His likeness, subject only to God, good. And He has given us power to govern ourselves according to divine law. "Exercise this God-given authority," writes Mrs. Eddy. "Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action."^{Science and Health, p. 393.} But what happens if we postpone using this ability or if we have never learned how? We may become subject to the whims and caprices of a physical body over which we seem to have lost all control. We may even be mesmerized by its illegitimate demands.

To have true dominion, we must take command. When our command is divinely authorized, as the Bible repeatedly illustrates, the results are inevitably beneficial. For example, Nehemiah refused to stop the building of the wall at Jerusalem when his enemies asked him to come down and talk with them. He knew his work had divine authority behind it, and he could not be swayed by threats or deceit.^{See Neh. 6:1–3 .} Or, think of how Joshua and the Israelites brought down the walls of Jericho, not with weapons of war but with the ark of the Lord.^{See Josh. 6:1–20 .} In each case, resolution came not through an individual exerting his personal will but rather from accepting God's complete governance of the situation. Such understanding trust gives an individual the strength and ability to withstand whatever would threaten the harmony of being—whether it be dishonesty, tyranny, deceit, or disease.

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