Anyone who has seriously considered the subject of healing in Christian Science—and anyone who has humbled himself and earnestly prayed through a challenge on the way to healing—has probably realized an essential connection between individual redemption and the healing itself. Spiritual regeneration, transformation of thought and heart, putting off the old man or woman and putting on the new—this is at the core of true Christian healing. Whether the particular need in a given instance is the healing of physical sickness, or of a broken relationship, or of some moral weakness, the work of regeneration leads the way.

Recognizing the central importance of this redemptive effort, people sometimes wonder if they must then become humanly perfect—or very close to it (as if on the doorstep to heaven!)—before they can be healed. Yet the nature of God's love isn't ever that of a cruel, merciless taskmaster, withholding goodness and comfort and care when these are needed most. Divine Love surely does show the direction for progress, clearly marking out the path of spiritual growth, but Love also offers healing at every point along the way.

Consider Jesus' example as the master healer. Although so much of what he taught served to illustrate for his followers the serious demands of working out their salvation, he didn't require something called a "perfect disciple" before someone could be healed. The healing itself could be either a holy consequence of a person's spiritual growth or a stirring harbinger of regeneration, or both.

When Christ Jesus healed the man at the pool of Bethesda who had been infirm for thirty-eight years, so much more than the physical body was restored. The light and power of divine Truth held out the promise of a whole new life. And so Jesus cautioned the man to make sure his life would attest to what had now been accomplished in him. "Sin no more," Jesus said, "lest a worse thing come unto thee." ^{John 5:14.}

And when the Master healed the Gadarene man who had been wildly insane for so long—so crazed that he couldn't be restrained even with chains—the man was suddenly found sitting at Jesus' feet "and in his right mind." There, too, Truth was holding out the promise of a whole new life. And so Jesus counseled the man to be a witness for what had now been done in him. "Go home to thy friends," Jesus said, "and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee." ^{Mark 5:15, 19.}

In each of these instances, wasn't the Master showing that with the blessing of healing—God's free gift of grace—there was also a price? A free gift with a price may seem a paradox, but in true Christian healing something is eventually demanded in the way of spiritual renewal and of living one's life for the glory of God. The regeneration, the transformation, the new birth. But also, as with both the man at Bethesda and the man at Gadara, nobody is required to be one short step away from the ascension before he or she can be healed.

Obviously there need to be men and women made new. Yet the honest realism of Christian endeavor also informs us that even while regeneration may indeed be the work of a lifetime, healing is for now. It is the nature of the power and immediate presence of divine Love to fill what seem like the empty spaces in our lives, and the effect of that Love then overflows in our daily living. And this overflowing Love brings healing every time we open our hearts wide enough to receive it.

Every time we catch a glimpse of spiritual reality—of God as He is, divine Spirit, perfect Mind—and of what this actually means about who we are, there comes a stir in our thinking. That is the effect of Christ, Truth. And with the stir comes healing, for the record of our life is delineated fundamentally by the thought we give it. And when thought responds to the truth of man's identity as Spirit's likeness, as God's pure and perfect spiritual expression, then we are outlining spiritual wholeness as our best model. The consciousness of true health replaces the false record of sickness or debility. Spiritual freedom replaces the slavery of mortality. The individual is being made new and well and whole —all together.

In her article "The New Birth," Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, writes, "Nothing aside from the spiritualization—yea, the highest Christianization—of thought and desire, can give the true perception of God and divine Science, that results in health, happiness, and holiness."

Then Mrs. Eddy shows how this spiritualization occurs: "The new birth is not the work of a moment. It begins with moments, and goes on with years; moments of surrender to God, of childlike trust and joyful adoption of good; moments of self-abnegation, self-consecration, heaven-born hope, and spiritual love." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 15.}

This is the way of healing in Christian Science. But it is not the prolonged "wait" of healing. Each time something of the old materialistic thinking is put off, we're changed. There's healing in that. Each time we feel the present power—the Immanuel—of God's love, we're changed. There's healing in that. Each time we catch hold of a fresh vision of spiritual reality, we're changed. And again, there's healing.

Certainly these changes will continue as the old is being made new, but healing can follow each and every step in the right direction—and lead on to the next step.

William E. Moody