Article March 24, 1997 Issue

The redeeming power of divine Love heals drug addiction

Richard Amand Hogrefe

Recently someone asked me, "Why do you think God is ready and willing to heal me?" To understand why God is willing to help us, we need to know something of God's nature and of His tender relation to His creation. St. John says in the Bible that God is Love. Love cannot and does not express itself in a manner that is unlike Love. In other words, Love cannot express itself as condemnation or hate. There exists an indissoluble relation between divine Love and its object, or reflection, man. Love, through its nature and allness, maintains its own reflection in absolute completeness and perfection. The allness of Love acts as a law, eliminating whatever would deny the goodness and wholeness of Love's man. To one who is lost and yearning for help, this law comes as the redeeming power of divine Love, breaking the bonds of slavery to evil. We should not doubt Love's readiness to free us from the depths of every affliction and sin.

As we turn wholeheartedly to Love, we find that Love never turns us away. The joy of Love's Presence is such that, when we have tasted it, we become gladly willing to give up binding material beliefs. Speaking of this in a parable, Christ Jesus tells of a merchant "who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it" (Matt. 13:46).

Jesus understood man's indissoluble oneness with his Father, divine Love, and therefore had no doubt about His willingness to save and heal mankind. He demonstrated the power of Love by healing all kinds of sin and disease. He even raised the dead. In searching to understand the Science of Jesus' healing work, Mary Baker Eddy discovered Love to be divine Principle. She describes it in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures in a most beautiful way: "Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light" (p. 516). This is the Principle demonstrated in Christian Science healing.

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