Outgrowing the Old

ROBERT W. SHELMIRE

As human consciousness is uplifted and mortal beliefs disappear, one is being born anew. This joyful unfoldment comes to us only as a result of consecrated right thinking about God and His perfect creation.

One may ask, as did Nicodemus, "How can a man be born when he is old?" To this question Jesus replied: "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Only as thought is purified of fleshly desires can one comprehend Spirit, God, and enter into His presence. Salvation does not consist in salvaging the wrecked hopes and worldly ambitions of mortals, but in the destruction of false mortal belief through the understanding of Truth. Sinful mortal sense is destroyed as we awaken to the truth; and thus we are saved from the illusion of material existence, the belief of life and intelligence in matter.

Mrs. Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 548): "Earth has little light or joy for mortals before Life is spiritually learned. Every agony of mortal error helps error to destroy error, and so aids the apprehension of immortal Truth. This is the new birth going on hourly, by which men may entertain angels, the true ideas of God, the spiritual sense of being." Regeneration is a necessary experience, not, as some suppose, an optional one that may be accepted or rejected. Then why should mortals desire to delay it? Why should they prefer the darkness and misery of a mortal dream to the light and joy of spiritual understanding and the living of the truth about God and man? Because they do not comprehend spiritual things, but believe in the reality of a material world and are unwilling to change their worldly viewpoint. Jesus said, "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." Then, let us start now to learn what Life really is and stop wondering about it, waiting, procrastinating.

Christian Science is preaching the gospel as Jesus did, arousing mankind from its inertia to study and to think more about spiritual things. Men are discovering their true spiritual selves, and thought is being elevated to a higher concept of Life, intelligence, and substance independent of matter. The old man, the Adam-man or counterfeit, is being outgrown; while the real, the spiritual, the new man or Christideal is being increasingly manifested. Each individual healing of sorrow, sickness, or sin through Christian Science treatment is a step on the way out of all material bondage. The failure of material remedies to heal oftentimes causes the sufferer to turn to the one spiritual remedy, Truth. The many discoveries in the realm of physical science, some of which startle the world for a time, tend to enlarge the scope of mortals, release them somewhat from their own material beliefs and limitations, and prepare them to accept divine Mind as the first and only cause, the only creator.

To mortal sense, growth is succeeded by maturity and then by declining strength. This subtle suggestion we must persistently deny, for true growth and development are activities of Mind. The power of God never relaxes; hence, not one of man's divinely derived faculties ever deteriorates. With increased spiritual understanding comes a larger sphere of activity, wherein one finds work demanding greater ability. Our Leader writes in Science and Health (p. 452), "When outgrowing the old, you should not fear to put on the new." Enlarged responsibilities must be accepted joyfully and without fear of being unable to perform the duties involved. Each opportunity for greater usefulness in church work or in business should be welcomed, for thus do we progress heavenward.

At times our progress in getting rid of fear, wrong habits and desires, and other forms of erroneous thinking may seem slow; but even a so-called minor demonstration indicates that the complete demonstration can be made, and will be made when there is sufficient understanding to attain it. The successive healings performed by Jesus must have assured him that the final demonstration of Life eternal was possible. Our experience is progressive, as was that of Jesus; and he has made the way plain for us.

A student of Christian Science at one time was afflicted with a tendency to sleep in church. He prayerfully desired to be awake and attentive, but the suggestion of drowsiness was very persistent: it required much effort to stay awake. Once while he was attending a Christian Science lecture, at a time when he was undergoing both a physical and a mental struggle, thought suddenly became clarified and alert, and the weight was lifted. This experience proved to the student that it would be possible to overcome other discordant conditions by prayer, and through spiritual growth in the understanding of divine Science.

The poet says, "Leave thy low-vaulted past!" Leave harmful customs, useless traditions, and mythological religious teachings. Bury whatever was unprofitable in the past, and look not back on unreal scenes. Cultivate the field of present opportunities for enriching mankind spiritually, and there will be reaped a harvest in the new growth of right ideas, even to beholding the vision, as did John, of "a new heaven and a new earth."

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From Doubt to Understanding

October 18, 1930

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