Digging deeper
I once heard a story about a big treasure chest that was buried at the bottom of a deep hole. Then the hole was filled up halfway with dirt, and another, smaller chest was placed on top before the hole was filled the rest of the way. So if someone found the spot, they would dig down a ways and, upon discovering the little chest, believe they’d found the whole fortune. But if they’d only dug deeper, they would have found an even more valuable treasure!
The approach we take in our view of the world can be sort of like that, too. As we get further beyond the surface of materiality and dig into spiritual truth, deeper and deeper, we come upon invaluable concepts that are truly life-changing. It is so very rewarding to dig into the wonder of heaven in Spirit, God, present right here and now.
One way to think of this is the way Jesus put it – to seek “first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). The great value of seeking to know the kingdom of God more than I’d ever done before was proven to me when I was injured while mountain climbing. In the following weeks, I prayed and dug into the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy’s book “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” (the textbook of Christian Science) diligently, learning more about God’s nature as perfectly good.
As I patiently continued to dig even more deeply into the spiritual truths I was learning about, I came upon a treasure that was bigger than I’d ever imagined: the realization that immortality is not something reserved for some distant future time. God has gifted us with immortality right here and now. God creates and maintains us, not as mortals with only hints of inner spirituality, but forever as the entirely spiritual and immortal offspring of the Divine.
I could tell that this glimpse of spiritual reality was priceless because I just loved to keep thinking about it! Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:34). It was a joy to give my all for this treasure – to more deeply get to know God as our caring, loving Parent.
Not only did this transform the way I viewed myself, it was externalized in what I then experienced. Within a day or so, I found myself healed completely and loving mountain climbing even more.
Speaking of God, a hymn in the “Christian Science Hymnal” says,
We come today to bring Him praise
Not for such gifts alone,
But for the higher, deeper ways
In which His love is shown.
(Laura Lee Randall, No. 342, © CSBD)
With praise and gratitude, we can humbly cherish our deeper spiritual gains, revealed as we hunger for God’s spiritual gifts and ways. We’re so much more than physicality. We can accept Jesus’ invitation to release our claims to materiality, and thus find “treasure in heaven” (Matthew 19:21). Sometimes the treasure of faultless spiritual immortality may seem hidden pretty deep. But that doesn’t dilute even the smallest amount the momentous fact that it is always there.
“When we realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of matter,” writes Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health, “this understanding will expand into self-completeness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other consciousness” (p. 264). As God’s children, we’re all inherently capable of having this realization. We can treasure what we learn about our God-given potential, Christian healing, and spiritual renewal as we dig for truth. Each deep, enlightening inspiration along the way, even if it appears to be modest, is more valuable than all the jewels and gold on Earth.
Looking for more timely inspiration like this? Sign up for the free weekly newsletters for this column or the Christian Science Sentinel, a sister publication of the Monitor.
