Article July 9, 2018 Issue

Our capacity to understand God

Lynn G. Jackson

A friend of mine is a coach and was working with a student one day on gaining more accuracy and strength. The student had been training for a few hours and was very tired, so when the coach asked him to correct his technique again, the student replied, “I just can’t!” Immediately he knew he had said the wrong thing. But before he could say another word, the coach gently told him, “Don’t say ‘can’t.’ Say, ‘I’m not doing so right now, but I will practice to do so!’ ”

When it comes to developing our spiritual sense and understanding our relation to God more deeply, we may feel a bit like this student. We may want to grow and get stronger spiritually, practice more of what we’ve learned in Christian Science, and bring about quicker healings, but when challenged with a problem in our lives, we may hear ourselves saying, “I can’t!”

The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, writes in the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “Spiritual sense is a conscious, constant capacity to understand God” (p. 209). This capacity comes directly from God and is ours by reflection. The divine Mind that knows us as its eternal creation has provided us with the ability to know Mind, God, as our creator. The Bible and Mrs. Eddy’s writings elucidate our present perfection and our unity with the one divine Mind as its reflection. Consistently keeping thought open to this spiritual message enables us to demonstrate our oneness with God in our daily lives and grow in our spiritual understanding and expression.

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