Because of his unquestioning faith in the ever-presence and all-power of the Supreme Being, and in the reality and unchangeableness of divine law and order, Jesus was able to heal instantly. The Master's works confirmed the Christ Science he taught. His teachings, however, were so contrary to the generally accepted material viewpoint that even his disciples found it difficult to comprehend many of his statements. Pondering the demands which their great Teacher had just made upon them, the disciples entreated him (Luke 17:5, 6), "Lord, increase our faith." He replied, "If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you."

The mustard seed is one of the smallest of seeds, yet it grows abundantly and produces profusely under the least favorable conditions. These characteristics may have caused the Master to choose the mustard seed as a symbol with which to illustrate the power of unquestioning faith in the creator.

Today the desire for higher faith is completely satisfied by instructions given by Mary Baker Eddy in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Anticipating the desire for that faith which will lead to the understanding of the Christ-idea, Mrs. Eddy asks the question (ibid., p. 495), "How can I progress most rapidly in the understanding of Christian Science?" Her answer is, in part, as follows: "Study thoroughly the letter and imbibe the spirit. Adhere to the divine Principle of Christian Science and follow the behests of God, abiding steadfastly in wisdom, Truth, and Love." A careful study of the inspired Word of the Bible together with the Christian Science textbook unfolds the way to the spiritual understanding that heals the sick through faith in God.

God, Spirit, created all that was created. He endowed every idea with power to reflect the divine presence. In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes (p. 475): "Man is idea, the image, of Love; he is not physique. He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas." Mortal man is the direct opposite of the real man. Lacking a true knowledge of God, mortal man has only a temporary, illusory existence, with a limited concept of all things. Leaning upon a finite mind and finding it incapable of sustaining him, mortal man becomes fearful, doubtful, confused, and wavering in his own purpose. And "he that wavereth," James observed (James 1:6, 7), "is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord."

Unwavering faith in divine Principle is gained through the understanding that God is the creator of man and the universe and that His creation is as permanent as the Mind that created it. Mankind must come to see clearly that there is only one creator, one God, one Mind, one All. Mortal man must learn that he is not a creator, and that the real man is the expression of the one creative Mind, God, reflecting all that belongs to infinite Mind. As this understanding dawns upon the human consciousness and God is acknowledged to be the Father of all, faith in the ever-presence of God increases with resultant demonstration, manifesting the divine All-power.

In transition from the material to the spiritual the baser qualities of mortal sense are replaced with the Christlike qualities of spiritual sense. This transition takes place in the human consciousness and is not alone a gradual parting with error and a gaining of an understanding of Truth, but it is the emergence from the darkness of ignorance into the light of immortality. All who follow Jesus' example and abide in his word will come into spiritual understanding, the faith that demonstrates Immanuel, "God with us."

The Master's resurrection and ascension awakened the disciples to a clearer perception of his teachings and cast light upon instructions they had not previously comprehended. Now they understood that God is Life, and man's life is as indestructible as God. This new understanding of Life, Truth, and Love brought to them an abiding faith, a faith that enabled them not only to heal the sick and sinning but to restore the dead to life.

These healings recorded in Acts indicate that the apostles had attained that glorious faith they had sought of the Lord in the earlier days. Experience had taught them to distinguish between material seeming and spiritual being. Now, to them, the Father answered every prayer, for they understood and demonstrated in some measure man's true nature. Mrs. Eddy writes (Science and Health, p. 495), "God will heal the sick through man, whenever man is governed by God."

As in the disciples' earlier experiences, so today that which hinders prompt healings is doubt of the ever-presence and all-power of the Supreme Being and lack of understanding of the reality and unchangeableness of the divine law and order. Healing the sick, feeding the multitude, walking on the water, and raising the dead were proofs Jesus gave of God's presence and power, of the unchangeableness of divine law and order, and of man's dominion over error. The proof of man's immortality was given not alone for the few followers that saw Jesus after the resurrection, but for all mankind. To the doubting Thomas the Master said (John 20:29), "Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, yet have believed."

Human suffering results from the belief that life and intelligence exist in matter. Suffering, whatever its nature, will cease when it is understood that matter has no life, no intelligence, of its own; that all life is in God, Spirit. Sorrow, grief, lack, limitation, sin, sickness, and a sense of separation are all annulled through unwavering faith in and recognition of God as man's life and the source of all good. The healing prayer of Christian Science, however, includes more than affirmation; it embraces the understanding of the Science of being and its application to human need so thoroughly as to bring into individual experience in a satisfying measure that which is spiritually affirmed.