That a large and rapidly growing interest in spirituality exists, there can be no question. A search of the Internet for listings that use the word spirituality shows thousands of sites. In addition to its religious context, spirituality is discussed in terms of how it relates to special groups or areas of interest, such as women, Afro-Americans, conservation, psychology, mysticism, medicine, health, and other fields. Even human sexuality is being connected with spirituality.

The diversity of views on the meaning of this word is immense. For most Christians, though, prayer and a belief in God are seen as essential for spiritual development, and small groups are springing up in many churches to study spirituality.

Without a desire to follow God's commands and to live as He expects us to live, we cannot truly grasp spirituality. Christ Jesus must have known this. His actions and thoughts were directed by God; He was more spiritually-minded than anyone else.

A key to the spirituality that made his healing works possible is that he loved with an impartial and unconditional love. Near the close of his ministry, he said, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:34, 35). Loving in this pure and Christly way is true spirituality.

Such love has its roots in the understanding that Spirit and God are synonymous terms; and that God's universe, the only real universe, is wholly spiritual and good, with no material elements. Nothing unlike Spirit, God, can be truly spiritual. Mixing Spirit and its opposite, matter, is impossible. As Jesus said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6).

Growing in spirituality gives meaning to life. It brings to light our actual identity as children of God, loved and cherished by Him. The more we identify ourselves as ideas of God, Spirit, the more we understand that our true being is already spiritual, not material—and the better we understand what it means to love as Jesus loved.

Part of the resistance to understanding our inherent spirituality arises from the common religious view that man is the offspring of sinful Adam, who the Bible says was formed from dust (see Gen. 2:7). Yet the Bible tells us that God had already made man in His likeness (see Gen. 1:27). He created without the use of matter and called the result "very good."

God has never changed this assessment of His creation. Our heritage is to be sons and daughters of God, not of Adam. We are able to prove this by seeking to understand better our God-given spirituality and to follow the highest example of spiritual sonship, Christ Jesus.

In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy writes, "With a single command, Mind had made man, both male and female. How then could a material organization become the basis of man? ... Matter is not the reflection of Spirit, yetGod is reflected in all His creation" (p. 524). Understanding man as the reflection of God—as His spiritual image and likeness—reveals God's unending love for us and impels us forward. Our deepened spirituality gives us the means of overcoming life's challenges, proving them powerless.

With an understanding of God's love and tender care, adversity should only spur us on to greater spiritual accomplishments. The Apostle Paul was stoned, put in prison, run out of town, shipwrecked, and even suffered from an unidentified affliction that he called "a thorn in the flesh" (II Cor. 12:7). Yet his spirituality gave him security and joy in the face of these severe challenges.

"Christians to-day should be able to say, with the sweet sincerity of the apostle, 'I take pleasure in infirmities,'—I enjoy the touch of weakness, pain, and all suffering of the flesh, because it compels me to seek the remedy for it, and to find happiness, apart from the personal senses," writes Mary Baker Eddy (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 200). While adversity is not necessary for spiritual progress, and should not be sought or expected, it often results in great growth.

Without spirituality we would be like the dust from which the Bible says God formed Adam. But when we accept the reality that we are wholly spiritual, we overcome material elements such as sickness, pain, or other trouble. Our love becomes purer, embracing all humanity.

(Robert A. Johnson is a contributing editor.)

I CORINTHIANS

Now we have received, not the
spirit of the world, but the spirit
which is of God .... For who
hath known the mind of the Lord,
that he may instruct him? But
we have the mind of Christ.

I Corinthians 2:12, 16