There are a number of reasons for waiting. One of them is waiting for things to change—a change in the economy, the weather, even a traffic light! It might seem there's so little in our lives under our direct control that we've grown accustomed to waiting for most things to change on their own. Even when it comes to our health, have we slipped into waiting for it somehow to change for the better, rather than taking control and healing disease and disability as Christ Jesus taught us to do?

According to the Gospel of John, there were large numbers of sick and disabled people who were waiting for a material change they believed would bring healing. These people, gathered at the pool of Bethesda, were "waiting for the moving of the water." They attributed this movement to an angel, and believed that whoever first entered the pool after the waters moved would be healed. For one person by the pool, an invalid for many years, change did occur. The man was healed. But not because of an encounter with the water. Rather, it was an encounter with Christ Jesus (see John 5:1–9).

In thinking about everything that radically changed in that man's life as a result of this encounter, we should perhaps consider first the mental change that must have occurred. Wasn't it the powerful influence of the Christ on the man's thought that brought about the change? We know from the Bible account that he had lived with a crippling disease for thirty-eight years. Apparently, he and others at the pool had surrendered to their physical troubles, and believed that the most they could do for themselves was wait for an external condition to change.

It's hard to imagine an attitude more unlike the Master's! Jesus never surrendered to disease. Time and again, without hesitation, he exercised his God-derived ability to heal disease. And a thorough study of all his words and works acquaints us with the basis for his decisive and effective action.

The Science of Christ, discovered by Mary Baker Eddy, helps us understand and prove the divine Principle and rules that underpin Christian healing. God's law and healing power aren't something we have to wait for. Mrs. Eddy refers to the Christianly scientific healing of sickness and sin as a sign of what is ours now. She writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. xi), in part quoting Isaiah, "They are the sign of Immanuel, or 'God with us,'—a divine influence ever present in human consciousness and repeating itself, coming now as was promised aforetime,

It's marvelously encouraging to grasp the significance of God with us, with everyone. It means that His healing power, His action, His love, are here. The divine influence, Christ, is with us whether we're aware of it or not, because its source, God, is always present.

Christ reveals the divine reality that man is right now the effect of Spirit, God, the one perfect cause; that his true nature is spiritual, not material. Through this divine influence we recognize more of the intelligence that is ours at every moment as the reflection of the divine Mind, God. Christ shows us the continuity and permanency of our being, since man is the very expression of Life right now. We find that our health can't slip away, because man's health is governed by the divine Principle which maintains perpetual harmony.

If we're waiting for God to make us better, or for Him to act on our behalf in a time of great need, then our truest need is to recognize more of what Christ, Truth, is presenting of the actual state of man at this moment, and of man's inseparability from God and His perfect care.

This spiritual understanding and basis for living is vastly different from the way most people think of life and health—as essentially physical. Believing what the material senses report, that cause and effect are material, it can seem logical that only by material means, including waiting for matter to act on its own, can health be restored and life improved. Yet this belief is false and works against Christian healing; it would shut out Truth and its purifying, healing effect on our lives.

In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy gives us an example of how belief in material conditions would close our eyes to the truth of being and thus hinder our ability to heal. This example also indicates how spiritual understanding empowers us to heal and enables us to govern our lives properly. We read about two different standpoints for approaching a case of bone disease—the standpoint of a surgeon and that of a Christian Scientist. Mrs. Eddy writes: "The surgeon, holding that matter forms its own conditions and renders them fatal at certain points, entertains fears and doubts as to the ultimate outcome of the injury. Not holding the reins of government in his own hands, he believes that something stronger than Mind—namely, matter—governs the case" (p. 422).

A little farther on we read about the very different mentality of the Christian Scientist: "The Christian Scientist, understanding scientifically that all is Mind, commences with mental causation, the truth of being, to destroy the error" (p. 423). We see in this illustration that the metaphysician doesn't dwell on a material condition; rather, he or she takes Christianly scientific action by looking to the spiritual reality of God and man, thus working from a position of strength. This is the Christly mentality which heals.

Waiting passively either for material conditions to change, or even for this Christly mentality to come to us, isn't the way to healing. In truth, the only mentality we can have—the only one we have right now—is Christly because man reflects God, the one Mind. What's required to demonstrate this fact is a fuller understanding of God, of His here-and-now presence, of His nature as Truth and Love, which uncovers and eliminates any unchristly elements in our thought such as fear or sin. What's required is a humble yielding to Mind and its purifying power.

This kind of action is vital to Christian healing, and includes abandoning the belief that waiting for material conditions to change is a viable option. Most important, it welcomes into our lives the divine influence, Christ, which is eternally with us and which heals.

Russ Gerber

PSALMS

The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.

Psalms 64:10