There's  a vivid account from the Bible that's rich with lessons on Christian healing. It's that of a man who was blind from birth, but who was cured of the blindness following an encounter with Christ Jesus (you'll find it in the Gospel of John, chapter 9). In reading the account—noting the man's openness to what Jesus had to say, his total willingness to follow the Master's instruction, and his trust in Jesus despite the interrogation, opposition, and revilement that followed this healing—we can easily identify some good qualities in this man. Especially his unbiased thought, open and humble.

That's significant. In this age, Christ still voices God's healing and saving message to humanity. And today, unbiased thought is still sincerely willing to listen to Christ's teachings to learn the nature of God and to discover man's true nature as God's image and likeness. When thought is willing to know and obey the laws that are operating in a universe made by an all-good God, we benefit from the operation of these laws. "The unbiased Christian thought is soonest touched by Truth, and convinced of it," writes Mary Baker Eddy in the Preface to Science and Health.

Still, in the case in John's Gospel there were other voices trying to persuade the man whom Jesus had cured of blindness. They questioned the fact that the healing took place; they disputed the ability of Jesus to heal, saying he was a sinner; they reviled the man for speaking favorably of the Master. When Jesus heard that these things had been said, he went and found the man. Then an interesting conversation took place between the two of them. Jesus asked him, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" The man asked, "Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?" Jesus replied, "Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee." The man then affirmed that he believed.

What was the point of this exchange? Perhaps Jesus was using the opportunity to anchor in the man's thought the divine authority behind his words and healing works; to assure him that it was the very Word of God, divine Truth, that had spoken to and healed him. And now this same Truth was counteracting the enmity he had been facing, and it was keeping him from doubting that authority. In effect, wasn't Jesus helping the man remain unbiased so that he would be free to live in accord with the Word of God? Wasn't he defending the man's openness and humble willingness to be transformed?

There's a powerful and practical lesson here for anyone who is shackled with illness and is seeking Christian healing. Humankind thinks about disease, and generally tries to cure it, from the basis of believing that life is material. Looking at life in that way, thought can become biased, or closed-minded—believing that the physical senses must be giving us an accurate report of our present and future health status. According to such thinking, any view to the contrary is illegitimate. So, if we're not watchful, we may find ourselves actually becoming biased toward doubt, being persuaded by a physical condition or by resistance to Christian healing—in short, by the thoughts of the carnal mind. For instance, we might be tempted to think, "Maybe Christian healing isn't effective." "Maybe it isn't even legitimate." "Maybe I'm not worthy of being helped by God."

This is exactly the moment to claim the unbiased, humble nature of our thinking. That's because the truth that comes from God is always present, revealing to open, humble consciousness what's true about ourselves as God makes us. Truth is revealing that our Maker is the one infinitely good and loving divine Mind; that God creates love and intelligence, and therefore He couldn't make disease or make man subject to it; that we are God's upright image, spiritually made, wholly good and perfect; that the universe is governed harmoniously by divine law, which is the real basis for health. In this way, divine Truth counteracts those biased thoughts and fears of the human mind that would keep us bound to disease, limitation, sin.

As we honestly seek and accept Truth's message with an open thought, the belief that disease is a fixed fact loses its grip on us, and we are convinced that we are governed by divine Truth. Inevitably this results in healing.

This is illustrated well in an account of Christian healing recorded in the Christian Science textbook:

No one has to measure the hope or possibility for healing by human history or physical conditions. The Science of Christ shows us a different way. A divine one that unfolds to open, humble thought. The Word of God is with us always, replacing doubt with assurance, hopelessness with conviction, and the seemingly insurmountable with victory.

Russ Gerber