Safe in God

HAVE you ever simply felt afraid? Not of heights or robbery but of some vague danger related to merely living? If we look closely at this nameless fear, we may find we're feeling threatened by our bodies and our environment -- by what they might do to harm us. If we think of ourselves as merely living in a material body within a material world, we are likely to feel there's no way to escape the dangers of life. But we can find safety and freedom through an understanding of who we truly are and where we truly live. This better perception consists of spiritual understanding.

We're safe -- not because we're made of some magical type of matter that can't be damaged but because, in reality, we are spiritual and are subject only to a spiritual environment. The true nature of each of us is spiritual and perfect because man is actually the image of God, Spirit, as the Bible teaches. In reality, we live in God, Spirit. As one Bible verse puts it: ``In him we live, and move, and have our being.''1

Admittedly, this fact contradicts the evidence of the material senses; but a deep, spiritual understanding of God-created life confirms the fundamentally deceptive nature of the material senses and affirms the supremacy of God, who is man's divine Life. A familiar hymn puts it this way:

In atmosphere of Love divine,

We live, and move, and breathe....

. . . . . For God, immortal Principle,

Is with us everywhere; He holds us perfect in His love,

And we His image bear.2

One day I learned better how the fact that man is spiritual provides safety and healing. A friend, hurrying toward me down some stairs, slipped and fell, striking his knee very hard against a section of the staircase. He was in considerable pain and couldn't walk. We both turned to God in prayer.

As I prayed, it became very clear to me that man is in truth the offspring of God. I felt the Christly assurance that because man is the spiritual child of God, dwelling in Him, man's safety and well-being are not the sport of circumstance or accident. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, assures us of man's spiritual, indestructible relationship to God, divine Principle. She writes: ``God is the creator of man, and, the divine Principle of man remaining perfect, the divine idea or reflection, man, remains perfect. Man is the expression of God's being.''3

I took refuge in knowing the spirituality of my friend's being. And I saw that my friend was -- and is forever -- safe in God.

Within minutes my friend told me the pain had vanished and that he was absolutely fine. We went out to do some errands, and he was able to move his leg normally. There were no aftereffects from the incident.

The ramifications of the fact that man is spiritual, living in God as divine Mind's idea, are infinite -- and tremendously freeing. As we come to understand better man's wholly spiritual nature, we will increasingly experience the wonderful blessings inherent in spiritual being. We will realize our safety in God and be freed more and more from the fears of living in a material world. We'll come to see more clearly and tangibly that we live under God's law and government. And this is where our real safety resides.

1Acts 17:28. 2Christian Science Hymnal, No. 144. 3Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 470.