"WORKERS TOGETHER"

Annie M. Knott

One of the most significant statements in the Bible is that in which Paul refers to our wonderful possibilities as "workers together with him" (Christ), workers in "the ministry of reconciliation" by which the world was to be reconciled to God. Like many other passages, this takes on a wonderful meaning in the light of Christian Science, showing as it does that every faithful follower of Christ, Truth, is not only privileged, but required to work as did the Master, who declared that his work was to reveal "the works of God." This he did by healing the sick, the blind, the lame, the sinful, by raising the dead, and by revealing the truth of being.

Early in his earthly career Jesus said. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." It is very evident that he understood how the Father works, and that all right activity must be in line with the divine purpose and order. As evil is neither a factor nor fact in the spiritual creation, so the whole trend of Jesus' activity was toward the obliteration of the belief in evil from human consciousness. As to his method, we may judge from Paul's words: "Henceforth know we no man after the flesh: ... if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away." He then goes on to declare that vital truth which means so much in the practice of Christian Science,—"All things are of God."

Before coming to Christian Science many of us would have considered it presumptuous or irreverent to think of attempting to work as did Christ Jesus. Now we would feel ourselves to be irreverent if we maintained that we could work on any other lines than he did, that is, by keeping ever in view spiritual reality and the absolute harmony of God's law, and by demonstrating these to the full extent of our understanding of Truth. It is noteworthy that in all the Scriptural admonitions and commands as to Christian activity, great emphasis is laid upon the knowing of the truth. Christ Jesus declared that to know God is eternal life. He also declared that he knew the Father, but that the mortals knew neither him nor his Father. In proof that his mighty works were inseparable from his knowing of God, we find him saying to his disciples: "If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: ... the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. ... believe me for the very works' sake."

Returning to Paul's statement respecting the possibility of the followers of Christ Jesus being "workers together with him," which also meant being workers together with God, we may note that he emphasizes the very points which are insisted upon in Science and Health. Paul declares for the basic teaching of Christian Science in saying that "all things are of God," also when he says that we are to know "no man after the flesh." Mrs. Eddy says, "Look away from the body into Truth and Love, the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and immortality" (Science and Health, p. 261).

The right knowing indicated in these and many related statements shows how we may work so that we shall not receive "the grace of God in vain ... but in all things approving [or proving] ourselves as the ministers of God, ... in watchings; in fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, ... by the word of truth, by the power of God." To do all this, and to be workers together with God and His Christ, we are bidden to "come out" and be separate from the world of sense. As this demand is obeyed in the light of Science, we reach that higher plane of consciousness where the true healing is realized, and hear divine Love say, I will "be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters."

Annie M. Knott.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit