God Has The Last Word
IT is a simple fact--but a reassuring one--that darkness cannot resist the coming of light. For me, the coming of light, as symbolized by the star of Bethlehem, signifies a great spiritual fact: God has the last word. We can see clearly that God does have the last word, in the failure of King Herod's attempt to find the babe Jesus and destroy him. We can see it in Christ Jesus' answers to the temptations enunciated by Satan. And we can certainly see it in Jesus' resurrection and ascension.
A worker in my office likes to say, "Don't let error have the last word. She and I are Christian Scientists, and Christian Scientists use the term error to describe anything that contradicts divine Truth. You might say that error is, specifically, the belief that life is limited to--and expressed through--matter. Error would argue that evil has the last word. It would insist that youthful vigor gives way eventually to decrepitude; that life ends in death; that grief is the penalty we pay for loving someo ne dearly.
In precepts that are founded solidly on Biblical teachings, Christian Science asserts that the real man is spiritual, perfect, and complete, created by God in His own image and likeness. This man is the true identity of each of us. God is eternal Mind--the one creative Mind--so His spiritual ideas must also be deathless. This means that our loved ones never stop expressing the Godlike qualities that we admire so much. Spiritual man can never lose vigor, joy, or any of the good that God bestows.
My grasp of these concepts was tested recently when I was called to jury duty. In this civil case, the job of the plaintiff's lawyer was to convince the jurors of the plaintiff's physical disability. While I admired the perspicacity of both lawyers, the aggressive cross-examination of witnesses left me stunned. At the end of the day I thought, "Is there any point in my trying to affirm that God's offspring are spiritual, harmonious, and loving? Any point in affirming that there is only one Mind, God? I picked up my Bible and soon came to this passage in Jeremiah: "I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
I also did some studying in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered and founded Christian Science. This reassuring passage caught my attention: "When the divine precepts are understood, they unfold the foundation of fellowship, in which one mind is not at war with another, but all have one Spirit, God, one intelligent source, in accordance with the Scriptural command: 'Let this Mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.'
I saw more clearly that spiritual ideas--God's children--don't collide; that they don't need to compete for good, because good is unlimited, provided by God. During the remaining days of the trial, I continued to think about the implications of these truths. The case was settled in a way that seemed to me very fair to both sides. Best of all, there were signs that the plaintiff was eager to resume an active, productive life and was truly expectant of good.
We don't have to wait until some future time to feel God's love and truth in our lives. The unity of God and His children has always been unbreakable. Through humble, sincere prayer we can look to our divine Father-Mother for guidance at all times, and we can expect to grow spiritually. If we feel chained to unpleasant experiences in the past, or if we're discouraged about some present situation, we have the right to claim our true identity and thereby find our God-given freedom and dominion.
