Would you be a good witness at a trial? What you say could be used either for or against the defendant. In court trials an innocent defendant would never willingly witness against himself. Shouldn't we be just as adamant not to testify unwittingly against ourselves when faced with sickness or some other challenge that would unjustly convict us?

Christians are called to witness to the truth. The Bible gives this stirring description of John the Baptist: "[He] came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe" (John 1:7).

Christian Science teaches us the importance of being a true witness; that is, going beyond the mortal, or material, view of man to the spiritual reality that we are inseparable from God as His image and are dearly loved by Him. As always, our model is Christ Jesus, the greatest witness to God and to the true nature of His creation. And like Jesus we can turn to God in time of need, because He is always caring for His offspring. As Paul explains in his letter to the Romans, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (8:16).

What, then, would prevent us from taking the witness stand, so to speak, to testify truly to our real being as children and heirs of God? First and foremost is fear. Are we frightened by the material evidence claiming to oppose God's, Mind's, righteous government of His universe including man? We silence fear when we take the witness stand with Christ. "Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness," Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, says in Science and Health (p. 332).

Busyness or mental lethargy (two sides of the same coin) might also keep us from testifying truly. How deceptive these false witnesses can be. Mental lethargy puts aside spiritual regeneration and simply embraces human activity. But Christ awakens us to see the falsity of this lazy witness for error, and to put it down as powerless. Then we'll take our case to the court of Spirit, where only the testimony of good is recognized. Christ won't let us be satisfied with the false verdicts of the court of matter. As the book of Isaiah declares, "The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver ...; he will save us" (33:22).

After experiencing a fall, I learned the importance of deciding immediately on which side I should testify—matter's or Spirit's. I had fallen and rolled down a short flight of stairs in the subway and was trying to collect my thoughts after telling kind travelers, who had stopped to help, that I was all right. Had I been neglectful—seeing man as fallen? Was I feeling bowled over by a long commute? I decided then and there, sitting on the bottom step, shoes in my hand, to refuse to witness against myself or my fellow subway riders. This decision gave me the strength to get up and continue on my way, albeit slowly!

Arriving at my apartment, I lay down and thought deeply about truths that sustained and uplifted me. I refused to allow myself to wonder whether I would be able to go to work the following day. I was witnessing only to God and His perfect, spiritual creation. I suddenly saw how I could get around the apartment by leaning on a chair, since I couldn't put any weight on my foot. I prepared dinner, praising God, strong in the realization that, yes, I was testifying on the side of Truth—the only side there really is—and that I could expect only good results. Before retiring, I studied carefully the Lesson-Sermon given in the Christian Science Quarterly, claiming for myself and others every truth stated. I rejected any false evidence that attempted to intrude.

The following morning I woke early, feeling refreshed and calm. Again I studied the Lesson-Sermon. After finding a pair of sandals in the closet, I was able to go about my business for the day, using the subway as usual. I continued my prayerful reasoning, replacing any tendency toward fear or lethargy with active reliance on God's supporting grace. My views of myself and others were righted, and I felt a new confidence. A day or two later I was again wearing my regular shoes, and within a week I found myself running to catch a bus.

Science and Health tells us on every page how we can witness to harmony and health, refuting all claims to the contrary. It is our textbook and companion to the Bible. What can be more fulfilling than to grapple with the practical spiritual ideas it presents and see them bear evidence in our lives? Then, we stand upright and see that man is the unfallen child of God.

A passage in Mrs. Eddy's book Christian Science versus pantheism illustrates what I learned from this experience. She writes, "If man is spiritually fallen, it matters not what he believes; he is not upright, and must regain his native spiritual stature in order to be in proper shape, as certainly as the man who falls physically needs to rise again." And she affirms, "The grand realism that man is the true image of God, not fallen or inverted, is demonstrated by Christian Science" (p. 11).

A lovely postscript to this healing is that I began to spend more time testifying to the spiritual truth about myself and my fellow commuters as God's loved children, totally spiritual. And guess what? Shortly after this experience my commute was shortened because of a new assignment at work. What a reward for testifying truly!