I grew up hating insurance. We lived in the country, far from any fire department or firefighting equipment and fires started by lightning were not infrequent. There were several buildings on our farm and our fire insurance was expensive. Every time I wanted something, it seemed, I couldn’t have it because we had to pay an insurance premium.

As I grew older and was responsible for my own car and household goods, I began to value insurance, not merely for the protection it offered me but also as a way of helping others who had experienced some loss.

Then along came the question of life and health insurance. While money from insurance policies could replace cars and things, money itself couldn’t restore life and health. I knew that I needed to get a better understanding of the role insurance should play in my life. Surely I didn’t want to think of all the bad things that could happen and then receive compensation from an insurance policy when they occurred. What trust in God’s care does that signify?

I have loved the fact that Jesus’ followers who were with him in a sinking boat knew that God could save them, but they apparently didn’t trust their own spiritual understanding. They called upon Jesus, whom they had watched perform great wonders by the grace of God.

The story reads, “And he [Jesus] was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”

Jesus apparently had no fear of destruction since he was “asleep on a pillow.” It is this trust in spiritual means for safety—not an expectation of insurance compensation—that frees us from anxiety, too.

More than just trusting this spiritual protection, however, is needed. The demand is that our lives be impelled by spiritual truths and that we follow our Wayshower, Christ Jesus, more closely each day.

Being motivated by divine Love is the best insurance against unhappy circumstances. As Mary Baker Eddy said in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “Spiritual living and blessedness are the only evidences, by which we can recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love.”

Seeking to find our peace in this spiritual “true existence” doesn’t mean that we recklessly abandon all insurance programs. Sometimes insurance coverage is mandated by law. This is true in many places regarding liability insurance for vehicles driven on public roads, for instance.

Also there is a move toward making health insurance mandatory. Obedient citizens buy the insurance the law requires and even additional insurance if place and circumstances indicate that it is wise to do so. We must not, however, allow this action to cause us to place our welfare simply in knowing that we have insurance protection for when things go wrong.

Keeping things going right by seeking divine guidance through Christ is a better way to insure health and safety. As the disciples turned to Jesus to exercise his Christly control over the elements, we can trust Christ, Truth, to prevent destruction and disease in our experience. This is the best insurance. It is not designed to compensate us for loss but to prevent it.

“There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling,” is the great promise set forth in the 91st Psalm. This promise is made practical as our thought dwells on God and His/Her goodness. Trying to buy the insurance that will compensate us for our losses is going down the wrong path.

While there are amusing stories of insurance companies that will insure against any evil possibility—for a price—most insurance companies evaluate the perceived risk and write the policy accordingly.

Thinking from the basis of our spiritual insurance, we turn away from risk altogether and find safety. Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “Our surety is in our confidence that we are indeed dwellers in Truth and Love, man’s eternal mansion” (Pulpit and Press, p. 3).

Our surety, our spiritual insurance, gives us the confidence to let our thoughts dwell in Truth and Love. When storms threaten we can learn to be as confident and peaceful as our Master was.

In the beloved 91st Psalm, we are told, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.”

Letting thought dwell in the place where God is revealed, which is where Christ Jesus’ thinking seemed always to be, we are protected from all harm. Dwelling there is the key. We do not run in and out of our awareness of God’s presence and power.

While we may need to look at threatening situations long enough to deny their verity, we do not dwell on dangers. I was once advised to be willing to look at error—the mistaken view of ourselves as material beings in a material universe— long enough to perceive its unreality under God’s government. And we don’t need to look at it one second longer. Our protection is not in understanding error and its threats, but understanding Truth and Love.

Knowing that we can be spiritually insured against disasters and diseases through prayer not only makes us obedient to the legislation that governs these areas, but also guides us into adequate coverage that does not tax our resources.

I am grateful that I have matured beyond hating insurance into appreciating its value when rightly used. I am even more grateful that my real protection, as well as help in trouble, comes from the spiritual fact that I dwell—I’m not trying to get there, but alreadydwell—in God’s eternal refuge and fortress. My being there forever is insured by divine Truth and Love.

Spiritual surety:

Science and Health
264:24

King James Bible
Mark 4:38, 39