To know what is true on any given subject enables one to be free from deception and manipulation by lies. So, it is exceedingly important to know what’s true. 

The most important truth anyone can know is the true nature of God and His creation. This is the truth Christ Jesus taught. It frees humanity from the shackles of sin, disease, and death. Jesus demonstrated its freeing power, and he promised that others could do so also, saying, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” But Jesus preceded that promise by saying, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” (John 8:31, 32), thus showing that in order to know the truth that makes free, we need to be continually learning from his teachings and putting them into practice. 

The truth underlying Jesus’ teaching was entirely spiritual and can be perceived and understood only through the spiritual senses, not by the material senses. But that is good news, because we all have spiritual sense—the ability to grasp spiritual concepts such as purity, innocence, justice, mercy, and so on. Through spiritual sense we can grasp the truth that God is Spirit, and that His creation is wholly spiritual. This is divine truth, God’s truth. It cannot be perceived through the material senses because they present man and the universe as material, mortal, limited, and discordant—totally unlike God, the only creator. 

Material sense is the father of all lies. When these lies are believed—and they can only appear real and be believed through material sense—they appear as material conditions of immoral living, of suffering, and of dying. But in proportion as the truth of God and man is known through spiritual sense, these lies and their so-called “conditions” vanish from human consciousness and experience. That’s what Christian Science healing is all about.

The most important truth anyone can know is the true nature of God and His creation.

When individuals engage their spiritual sense in a thorough study of the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, and learn something of the spiritual, true nature of God and His creation—and know what they are learning is true—they begin to experience transformation of character, physical healing, and more. Knowing spiritual truth enables them to recognize the lies of the material senses and replace them with the truths of spiritual reality. Knowing the truth right where a lie is arguing for reality, enables them not to be deceived and manipulated by that lie. It keeps them free, or sets them free, according to their need.  

To continue to experience the freeing power of divine Truth, however, we must make knowing the truth our way of life. We must continue to learn spiritual truth through daily study and prayer, and go forth into our days prepared to know the truth concerning whatever the material senses present. That’s a full-time job. And actually, it’s a Christian duty, because if we know what’s true, but fail to know it when confronted with the lies of material sense that hold mankind in bondage, we are failing to love as Jesus loved; we are failing to know the truth that makes people free.

The Apostle Paul posed an arresting question to the Christians at Galatia: “Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?” (Galatians 5:7). One supposed hindrance might be a suggestion that knowing the truth all day long is just too much to ask. Let’s clear that up. 

Knowing the truth all day long doesn’t mean studying and praying in a quiet, secluded place all day long. It does mean gaining and maintaining an understanding of the fundamental truth of God’s allness and of His absolute government of man and the universe. It means knowing that spiritual truth is true, and not allowing yourself to be made to believe otherwise. It means getting the truth well established in your thought and then putting into practice what you know according to the demands of the day.

Another hindrance to obeying the command to know the truth, might be a suggestion that it wouldn’t be right to know the truth about someone who is sinning or suffering when that individual hasn’t asked you to do so. Let’s clear that up, too. 

Knowing the truth about someone is a Christian duty; it’s the Golden Rule. Wouldn’t you want others to know the truth about you? Knowing the truth for someone, however, is an entirely different story. To know the truth for another person requires their invitation, because it means making it your business to know the truth with the specific intention that Christ, Truth, will transform their thinking, not just yours. No one wants anyone to do that unless they’ve specifically asked for that kind of prayer—which is Christian Science treatment. But go ahead and know the truth that frees you from worry about others. Go ahead and see them as God’s perfect reflection; love them as God loves them. You will certainly be the better for it, and there is nothing to keep others from feeling Truth’s healing influence.

Knowing the truth as one goes about one’s day simply means allowing yourself to be a transparency for the divine Truth that makes free (see Science and Health, p. 295). It means being a law to yourself, not to others (see Mary Baker Eddy, Manual of The Mother Church, p. 84). In this way, Truth’s life-giving, transformative, healing power will not only bring freedom to you—it will shine through you into the atmosphere of human life, and you will be fulfilling your Christian duty.

Barbara Vining