A God worthy of worship

Yesterday's article discussed how it's our nature to worship, to devote and consecrate ourselves to someone or something. A person's "God" may be a political or economic theory, a career, a certain lifestyle. It may be his body , his own ego, or even another human being. These "gods," one and all, ultimately fail to meet the heart's greatest need. By their very nature they are unworthy of worship, for they can never fulfill the immortal yearnings of man's spirit.

If we are weary of false gods, then now is the time to experience the living reality of the true God. There is such a Being, and He is worthy of worship. Indeed, to know Him as He really is, is to find Him infinitely attractive, lovable, and loving. The tenderness of a mother for her child but hints the love and care of God. God ism Love, but He is vastly more than an emotion. Love is Father-Mother, the creator of the supersensible universe that we now see only "through a glass, darkly." n1

n1 Corinthians 13:12.

Whatever materialistic dogmas and creeds have ascribed to God's nature must be set aside. God is Love, and Love is Life itself. Therefore God must be known in experiencem -- not just by words or theory but by His own presence in our lives. We must know Him by His power, by His saving grace, by His healing touch. Nothing less can or should convince us of His reality.

The question then arises, "How shall I come to know this God and feel His actuality?" Of ourselves, we cannot do it. But God sends His Holy Spirit into our hearts, and this Spirit leads us to Him. As St. Paul wrote, "The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." n2

n2 Romans 8:26.

Our silent, earnest longing to know the true God is the work of the Holy Spirit acting within us.And once we feel the Holy Spirit's touch, we can never again be satisfied with false gods. Only the divine consummation -- conscious union with God Himself as His immortal likeness -- can ever satisfy our immortal yearnings.

The prayer of the Holy Spirit within us need not be wordless or unenlightened. We can give form, structure, and insight to our spiritual longings, our divinely impelled desire to know reality as God knows it. As Paul also said, "I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also." n3 The prayer of understanding is the prayer enlightened by divine Science -- the Science of God and spiritual reality.

n3 I Corinthians 14:15.

This Spiritual Science, discovered and founded by Mary Baker Eddy, fulfills the Biblical prophecy of the promised Comforter. The "Spirit of truth" in Christian Science will indeed "guide you into all truth," as Jesus promised n4 Science strips away misconceptions of God that encumber our prayers. It tells us, "If we pray to God as a corporeal person, this will prevent us from relinquishing the human doubts and fears which attend such a belief, and so we cannot grasp the wonders wrought by infinite, incorporeal Love, to whom all things are possible." n5

n4 John 16:13.

n5 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,m p. 13.

These words from the chapter "Prayer" in Mrs. Eddy's book Science and Healthm point the way to the prayer of understanding. God is Person, but not in any finite sense of the word, for every aspect of Him is infinite. He is as far above corporeal personality as we can imagine.Yet He is real, individual consciousness, the infinite Mind, and therefore both knows and can be shown spiritually.

Enlightened prayer reflects what God knows. It affirms that He is the only power and that evil is no power. It affirms that disease and sin are no part of reality because God's infinite goodness excludes them. It affirms that man is not material but the very image of Spirit, Mind.

Science and Healthm is filled with truths such as these that give wings to our prayers. God explains Himself in the "Spirit of truth," in His Science. And in Science we find a God worthy of worship -- a God to adore and obey, a God who is real, ever-present, effectual Love. DAILY BIBLE VERSE I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. Leviticus 26:12.