Employment statistics can go up and down or stay relatively stable, but there’s a way we can always feel gainfully employed, irrespective of our job status. It’s seeing our moment-by-moment purpose from a spiritual standpoint. If we feel in our heart that our most important endeavor is getting to know God and understanding and accepting how God knows us and others, we’ll always feel and be spiritually employed.

There are two broad categories of such employment. The first is joyfully opening our heart to God’s nature. Christian Science reveals many synonyms for God, including seven that are particularly helpful: Love, Life, Truth, Spirit, Soul, Mind, and Principle. Becoming conscious of God’s presence and power by digging deep into the significance of any of these synonyms to our lives never leaves us where it found us. For instance, becoming conscious of the ever-presence of infinite Love shows us that we’re inseparable from the boundless source of good that unfolds our God-glorifying purpose and meets our every need, including our need to pay the bills.

The second category is letting Truth motivate us to examine ourselves with the openness to let Christ transform us. Christ is the true idea of God, which also reveals our true nature as God’s spiritual expression. This view shines a glorious light that shows us our actual, spiritual identity. Yet by its very nature, Christ, Truth, also exposes what isn’t Godlike and is therefore unreal (though seeming real), pointing out our need for reformation. Persisting in imbibing the true idea of our nature dispels any misconceptions we have ignorantly or willfully taken on board.

The Discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, minced no words in explaining the necessity for this Christ-revealed self-awareness and the need to willingly abandon the false for the true. In an address to early students of Christian Science, she outlines what the false sense of ourselves looks like and the reformation needed: “Self-ignorance, self-will, self-righteousness, lust, covetousness, envy, revenge, are foes to grace, peace, and progress; they must be met manfully and overcome, or they will uproot all happiness.” 

But she also assures us that God is with us as we honestly endeavor to turn from any mistaken sense of ourselves. She continues, “Be of good cheer; the warfare with one’s self is grand; it gives one plenty of employment, and the divine Principle worketh with you,—and obedience crowns persistent effort with everlasting victory” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 118). 

This spiritual work—winning priceless victories in our war with a false sense of ourselves as material is the most fruitful work we can undertake. For our own sake and the sake of those near and far whom we wish to see blessed, every step of overcoming self through the light of Christ is lessening the darkness in collective human consciousness. 

Because of our God-given ability to do this work, we need never agree with the thought that we are unemployed, even if our present circumstances are adding to unemployment figures. The temptation might be to see the spiritual task of gaining in our consciousness of God and reforming our character as a distraction from the job hunt. But there’s no better way to open our eyes to opportunities calling for the unique individual that we are, which those characteristics needing reform could keep us—and others—from recognizing. And there’s no better way to ready ourselves for whatever new opportunities will come along. 

As we devote ourselves to the sacred work of spiritual inquiry, insight, growth, and practice—whether we have a job, are actively seeking one, or are retired—we can wrap our thoughts around everyone who is unemployed, knowing that this isn’t the way anyone appears to God. What Love sees is above and beyond even our honest labors to spiritualize our thinking and Christianize our lives. God sees us as fully engaged in being what we always are as the unadulterated, complete daughter or son of Spirit. This real identity is the spirituality that radiantly reflects our Father-Mother, God, and recognizing this as our only identity has a healing impact on what we do and how our needs are met. 

God is our boss in this holy work, and the beneficiaries are our near and dear ones, fellow church members, our community, and our global family. So our in-tray is always full! And our out-tray overflows with the gladness of spiritual light and life perceived and lives touched, uplifted, even healed.

Christ Jesus upheld the high standard for the unstoppable nature of spiritual employment when criticised by religious leaders for healing on the Sabbath. He said, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (John 5:17). Every spiritual fact that Jesus exemplified is true for us, too. We have an irrepressible usefulness as God’s reflection. This, in turn, gives us the basis for seeing beyond the belief, no matter how persistent, that we can be less than the indispensable, ever-active expression of God. 

If the ritualistic religious law of Jesus’ day couldn’t stop Jesus from reflecting God’s love in perpetual right activity, then we too can face down any seeming obstacle to being about our Father’s business, in whatever is our rightful current work to do. We can know that because we are each always God’s witness and evidence, our faithful, fruitful, uninterruptible, ever-satisfying spiritual employment will always have its right expression in our day-to-day—and moment-by-moment—experience.

Tony Lobl, Associate Editor