Grounded on the rock of Christ
For the Lesson titled “Mortals and Immortals” from May 12 - 18, 2014
Spending time at the ocean this spring, I often woke to dark, thunderous waves rising ten feet high, then pounding down on the beach. Within a few days, the view changed to one of peace as blue-green waves swayed, barely touching the sand, yet depositing a serendipitous assortment of sea treasures. It reminded me of the mortal picture of our human experience—sometimes beautifully adorned, sometimes destructive, always subject to change.
Armed with examples from the Bible, this week’s Christian Science Bible Lesson, titled “Mortals and Immortals,” encourages us to see our lives on the rock of immortality, rather than the changing sands of mortality. Turning away from the mortal view of life and holding our thought with Christ, Truth, unfolds our true, immortal existence, which is consistently good. We read in the Golden Text that when we are “in Christ,” we become a new person, in fact, “all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17).
As the Responsive Reading suggests, there is little value in vain outward beauty such as the color of our hair, or clothes that adorn our bodies. Instead, God gives us something more valuable to display—“the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price” (I Peter 3:4, Responsive Reading). Ezekiel displayed this type of meekness
—controlled power, humility—at a time when the Israelites experienced great despair and confusion. The Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem and used idols as a way to obtain prosperity and peace. When Ezekiel asked the Israelites to “turn yourselves from your idols” (Ezekiel 14:6, citation 2), he was telling them to choose God, to trust that God would guide them through this difficult time.
We have choices in our day-to-day decisionmaking. With each decision, we are like “sculptors, working at various forms, moulding and chiseling thought” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 248, cit. 2). Experts tell us that we make thousands of decisions each day. Do we base them on the changing waters of material life, or do we stand on the firm foundation of Christ? Do we walk in vanity by taking credit for our accomplishments, or do we do as Jesus did when he first taught about the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) in the temple? Astounding the priests with his great learning, he gave all credit to God saying, “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me” (John 7:16, cit. 11).
Jesus tells us that no one would sew “new cloth unto an old garment” because it would cause a worse tear (see Matthew 9:16–18, 23–26, cit. 12). Still, do we often make situations worse by trying to force God into our mortal visions? When Jairus knew his daughter needed help, he turned to Jesus, who understood her immortality and was able to heal her. Jairus must have understood, similar to the Psalmist, that God hears our plea for change: “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord” (Psalms 118:17, cit. 10).
When we learn that the swirling waters of mortality cannot touch us, we can see new opportunities, new solutions, a new life. We are always safe, beautiful, and successfully grounded on the rock of Christ.
