Nicodemus obviously was deeply impressed by Christ Jesus' marvelous healing life. As a member of the governing council at Jerusalem, Nicodemus himself probably had a great deal of influence among those who listened to him. But Jesus was unique, and Nicodemus recognized that. John's Gospel says of Nicodemus, "The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." ^{John 3:2.}

Don't we all stand in awe of the great Master's spirituality and his unsurpassed ability to heal and redeem human lives? Yet the magnitude of his spiritual accomplishments should never cause us to doubt our own ability fully to obey his command "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give." ^{Matt. 10:8.}

Jesus, who is mankind's Way-shower, didn't give his followers a holy command and then leave them with no way to carry it out. His answer to Nicodemus has a deep significance for anyone who wants to learn more of his own worth and ability to demonstrate true Christian discipleship with its resultant healing power. He said, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." ^{John 3:3.}

In Christian Science, being "born again" includes accepting Christ Jesus as our Saviour. It also means, however, gaining a vivid, spiritualized consciousness of ourselves as already the precious sons and daughters of God and learning to live in obedience to the spiritual truths Jesus' life exemplified. Only in this way can any doubts of our worthiness to follow the Master be resolved in a manner that enables us to go forward in the work God has given us to do.

How do we gain that spiritual sense of ourselves as the eminently worthy expression of God right now? When we look back at our human experience, it often seems so full of mistakes, things we wish we hadn't done or had done better. And even now we may wish we could do better than we're doing.

Jesus gave the answer to all that self-condemnation and mental anguish when he said to Nicodemus: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." ^{John 3:6, 7.}

Being born again spiritually involves dropping the concept of ourselves as mortals—worthy or unworthy. Mortals never can be worthy of expressing God, for they are not God's man. Mortals are strictly the suppositional opposite of God's man. They are the outward appearance of the generally accepted false belief that man is conceived in sin and born into mortality. But that is not what we really are. Our true selfhood is God's man, who is conceived by God, Spirit, as His pure and perfect expression. We have never in reality been anything else. And as man, God's very witness, we are certainly worthy of reflecting divine Truth and Love.

We prove this truth humanly as we accept with humility and gratitude the fact of our real, Godlike nature. In proportion to our acceptance we gain the courage, the love, and the growing spiritual understanding and ability to demonstrate our true worth.

The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, speaks of this point in her article "The New Birth" in Miscellaneous Writings. She recognizes the desire that the honest individual has to be more Christlike and then writes, "But, as one grows into the manhood or womanhood of Christianity, one finds so much lacking, and so very much requisite to become wholly Christlike, that one saith: The Principle of Christianity is infinite: it is indeed God; and this infinite Principle hath infinite claims on man, and these claims are divine, not human; and man's ability to meet them is from God; for, being His likeness and image, man must reflect the full dominion of Spirit—even its supremacy over sin, sickness, and death." ^{Mis., p. 16.}

God, Spirit, is the real healer. Spiritual healing is the natural outcome of our spiritually growing understanding and demonstration that we are actually God's pure likeness, not physical beings with limited intelligence and a limited ability to demonstrate true goodness. Man is incorporeal, and his consciousness is the reflection of divine Mind, whose very presence excludes sin and pain and fear. We possess dominion over evil because of what we truly are—the unlimited manifestation of the one perfect God.

As the new birth goes on in our thought, we find we're less worried about ourselves, less anxious about what we can and cannot do right now, or what people are or are not thinking about us. Instead our thoughts are more open to the messages of Truth and Love. We hear God telling us that infinite Truth is ours to express; that the opportunities to see Love's image in ourselves and others are boundless; and that with divine Principle as the source of the good we would express, our real work is to love God and patiently follow His guidance.

We earnestly need more of that quality of patience as the new birth unfolds in our consciousness. Yes, it is true that man is now and always has been the son of God. But the demonstration of this sublime truth is a step-by-step development. Mrs. Eddy writes: "The new birth is not the work of a moment. It begins with moments, and goes on with years; moments of surrender to God, of childlike trust and joyful adoption of good; moments of self-abnegation, self-consecration, heaven-born hope, and spiritual love." ^{Ibid., p. 15.}

Anyone who is daily praying to surrender human will to God; who is loving and trusting in the power of good; and who is consecrating more and more moments to the demonstration of Truth and Love, is certainly worthy to call himself a Christian follower of Christ Jesus. And the ability to obey Jesus' commands to heal is commensurate with our increasing spirituality. We can trust God to bring our holiest desires to pass, for as we read in Isaiah, "Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the Lord." ^{Isa. 66:9.}

BARBARA-JEAN STINSON