How to do more than you thought you could

The live television show was to be completely ad-lib. I was familiar with the outline of the story, but it was to be my responsibility to furnish my own lines. And I had given the program little thought because of prior commitments. "Remember what St. Paul said," my friend told me as I was leaving for the studio: "'I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.'" n1 I needed that!

n1 philippians 4:13.

The confidence her reminder inspired proved justified. The play went off perfectly and showed more originality than some I had done with a set script.

What had happened?

I had subdue my own little ego, which falsely claimed to be me, and relied on the one genuine Ego, God. This didn't deny my intelligence and capacity but actually strengthened and expanded them by basing them in an immortal source and not in a limited brain and body.

Our ability to reflect the divine Ego in our day-to-day work is explained by the following facts: God is in reality the only controlling intelligence. When we exchange the belief of personal ego in matter for some grasp of our spiritual identity in God, something akin to the human and divine coincidence becomes evident. One feelsm the divine power take charge and dominate the human scene. And then one sees more clearly what Job meant when he said, "He performeth the thing that is appointed for me." n2

n2 Job 23:14.

But how can we prove that God is the star "performer" if we cling to a finite , willful ego, bent on doing things its own way? Mary Baker Eddy n3 gives this encouraging observation: "Self-renunciation of all that constitutes a so-called material man, and the acknowledgment and achievement of his spiritual identity as the child of god, is Science that opens the very flood-gates of heaven; whence good flows into every avenue of being, cleansing mortals of all uncleanness, destroying all suffering, and demonstrating the true image and likeness." n4

n3 Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science;

n4 Miscellaneous Writings,m p. 185.

We come to know this marvelous spiritual identity -- right here and now -- when we look to the resources of Soul, God, as the source of our abilities. That is what Christ Jesus did. He admitted, "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do." n5

n5 John 5:19.

The only way the limiting influence of the mortal ego will ever diminish and disappear is for each person to begin to realize more fully and consistently his true individuality. This individuality is of the Father's creating -- incorporeal, perfect, and permanent. We can find this selfhood by exercising the spiritual sense God has already given us.

Sometimes egotism and self-will would thwart God's plan for us and cause detours and delays in our path toward more capable, worthwhile living. But as we subdue the mortal ego's claim to absolute supremacy and identify with the Christ -- with our true selfhood -- good things start happening. We become aware of expanded abilities and talents. Think what this can mean for the student, design engineer, writer, actor, accountant! From answering questions for a driver's license to designing a complicated component for jet aircraft, everything is an opportunity to express Mind's intelligence.

We can achieve our potential only by drawing nearer to our intelligent cause. Our talents are not restricted by mortal selfhood; they belong to God and become ours as we recognize their divine source and live more Godlike lives.

Earthly terms are insufficient to describe Mind's magnitude and brilliance. As we progressively wake up to our genuine status in the divine scheme of things , we realize that in spiritual individuality we find our identity. Then we recognize what we have always been: loved, capable members of God's universal family. DAILY BIBLE VERSE Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom . . . . And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men. Colossians 3:16, 23