Meekness: door to health

In a world of rampant agressiveness that would take heaven by force, Christ Jesus taught, "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." n1

n1 Matthew 5:5.

One frustrated by injustice may bitterly retort, "But the meek will never inherit the earth." Here submissiveness or self-depreciation is confused with meekness, and the divine promise is lost. True meekness, devoid of conceit, timidity, vindictiveness, is unpretentious, patient waiting on God. It is always accompanied by power.

The Bible illustrates, "Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." n2 Through meekness, Moses communed with God to receive the wisdom and stamina to lead a recalcitrant people from slavery to freedom through forty years of grueling trials.

n2 Numbers 12:3.

The meekness and might of Jesus lead the way for all from material slavery to spiritual freedom. The Master was constantly conscious of God's presence. His love had to abrasive edge -- no pride, fear, self-righteousness. Powered by divine wisdom, he showed mankind the way to righteousness and health.

Today Christian Science shows us how, through meekness, to learn to follow the Master in complete reliance on God. Science defines God as Love, Truth, Mind, Soul, Spirit, and man as the inseparable image of God. Unchangeable, immutable health is a quality of God expressed in man.

The spiritual understanding of God manifest in daily Christian living brings health -- practical health. It transforms the mind and reforms the heart as it heals discordant conditions. Through the action of the Christ in individual thought, the tenderness of Love, the integrity of Truth, the intelligence of Mind, the purity of Soul, the power of Spirit are revealed to consciousness and give us authority over sin, disease, death.

Science shows that disease is based in mental discord stemming from a misunderstanding of God. Fear, doubt, anxiety, are false conditions of thought that, unchecked by the Christ, all too easily manifest themselves in disease. Meekness welcomes the Christ, the saving Truth, which exchanges unhealthy mental and physical states for the healthy conditions of love, integrity, purity.

Meekness is preventative as well as curative. It prevents sin and disease through actively resisting evil, helping us hold our thought true to the perfect standard of Christ in divine Science. Its purpose is undeviating: fight evil (not people) with good, to prove God's all-power. The purity of Soul has no destructive element, no debilitating recrimination, no greed or revenge.

Meekness is active and bold, not passive and weak. It is easier to courage and justice, brother to kindness and mercy. Meekness uncomplainingly meets all opposition with love for God and man. It is motivated by divine Love's universal brotherhood devoid of suspicion and deceit. Meekness makes us more loving family members, more kindly neighbors, more willing workers. Its power is receptivity to ideas rather than brute force that invites retaliation.

After I had devoted a year to intensive research, a governing board rejected a project I submitted. I was frustrated and resentful, and I became ill.Then I remembered Mary Baker Eddy's n3 words, "Meekness, moderating human desire, inspires wisdom and procures divine power." n4 Through meekness I turned to God's will, not mine or others'. My health returned. But more, ideas flowed to improve the project, and it was accepted by the board.

n3 Mrs. Eddy is the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science;

n4 Miscellaneous Writings,m p. 360.

Meekness makes us receptive to spiritual realitiy. It is the mental atmosphere where Christ reveals God's perfect plan to mankind, where divine logic solves human problems, where health thrives, where wholesome activity abounds. Meekness is the open door to the perception and love of God and His ideas -- the open door to health. DAILY BIBLE VERSE There came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Matthew 8:2, 3