In the Christian Science Bible Lesson February 27, 2012 Issue

Gaze into God's mirror

For the lesson titled "Man" from February 27 - March 4, 2012

By Madelon Maupin

“You, O Lord, have made me glad by your work,” declares the Golden Text (Psalms 92:4, English Standard Version), challenging us, like the Psalmist, to feel joy for all that God has made. This requires that we see God’s handiwork everywhere, whether difficult relatives, office mates, or neighbors! This Bible Lesson, “Man,” gives us marching orders to see the nobility, beauty, power, and grace of the man and woman of God’s creation—and thankfully explains how. 

For the farmer during Jeremiah’s time (circa fifth century BC), what would be more important than planting a “noble vine” that would yield much fruit (see Jeremiah 2:21, citation 4)? Likewise in Section I, Jeremiah prophetically proclaims God-created man to be noble, or “magnificent,” “splendid,” and “exalted,” as it’s defined in the dictionary. Science and Health explains the prerequisite to seeing this man: “As mortals give up the delusion that there is more than one Mind, more than one God, man in God’s likeness will appear . . .” (p. 191, cit. 3.)

What if someone created a mirror for us that, when we gaze into it, would shine back a glorious reflection of such beauty that we could only peer at in joyous acceptance? Section II reveals this is what God has already done. “Man is God’s reflection, needing no cultivation, but ever beautiful and complete” (Science and Health, p. 527, cit. 6).