The beauty and significance of Jesus’ teaching and demonstration is that he proved in his healing work and resurrection the allness of Spirit, God—that there is no opposing power. He said of the belief in a power other than God, good: “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). As we, like Jesus, put all our weight on the side of spiritual reality, we gain an abundant and graceful understanding of God’s goodness that cannot be taken from us.

So what does it look like to put all of our weight on the side of Spirit? I have found that it begins with a willingness to let go of a personality defined by heredity or human history, as well as with a humble acceptance and generous expression of the pure, holy, spiritual selfhood created by God.  

When I was a young adult, I took a physical exam for a summer job. The doctor told me I had a heart murmur. He gave me the OK to work but suggested I monitor the condition. My study of Christian Science, learning about my purely spiritual nature as God’s expression, had always provided the help I needed with any illness, so I didn’t think about the doctor’s diagnosis a lot. But I took notice some years later when my father and two of his brothers needed heart surgery at a fairly young age, and I didn’t entirely let go of the impression that made on me. I knew I needed to wholeheartedly refute the suggestion that God had created me less than whole and perfect.