‘One thing is needful’
As we prioritize prayer to our infinitely good God, we find that stress about the many details of our lives falls away.
Often when I’m fretting over a problem, whether a personal issue or a world crisis, I am reminded of the Bible’s Mary and Martha when they hosted Jesus in their home (see Luke 10:38-42). Martha felt burdened about preparing the meal. Mary, on the other hand, simply sat at Jesus’ feet listening to his teaching. When Martha came to Jesus complaining about her sister’s failure to help, Jesus gently corrected her. He swept aside social codes with his statement “One thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Here Jesus instructs us to follow a higher law – to sit at the feet of Christ – that is, focus on nourishing our understanding of God, Spirit, through Christ, the true idea of God, which is present at every moment, revealing our perfect selves already at the apex of harmony.
Perhaps it seems that focusing only on good would be ignoring evil; it’s important not to be selfish or clueless when it comes to acknowledging the troubles of humanity. But we need to equip ourselves with healing prayer to handle the claims of evil. This work consists of diligently lifting our thought above the tumultuous picture of human struggle to the view that Jesus had of everyone as made in God’s very likeness, incapable of expressing anything but love, peace, and intelligence.
Jesus had the clearest and most correct perspective of anyone ever to walk the earth, and this enabled him to fulfill his God-ordained mission of saving humankind from its woes. Jesus didn’t just look on these woes without addressing them; through his Christly thought, he healed all kinds of problems. In place of a diseased or sinning mortal, he “beheld in Science the perfect man.... In this perfect man the Saviour saw God’s own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick” (Mary Baker Eddy, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” pp. 476-477).
Mrs. Eddy discovered the divine laws behind Jesus’ healing works and named this discovery Christian Science. She proved that there is a Science based on spiritual law that enables us to overcome material ills by raising thought above what is actually a false picture. Through an understanding of Christian Science, we all have this inherent ability to sit at the feet of Christ – to see everything in the world as it truly is in the wholly harmonious kingdom of heaven right here and now. To perceive this true sense of harmony, we must put into practice, diligently and with humility, what we understand of true being.
These ideas helped me a few years ago when my husband and I were building a house. This project was the culmination of many years of prayer and listening to God for direction. Yet, one day on the construction site, I felt very frustrated. Costs were soaring out of reach, and work was being done at a much slower pace than needed. One day, as I was busily painting outside on a ladder, I suddenly fell onto a concrete stoop.
Immediately, I got up and declared strongly that “accidents are unknown to God” (Science and Health, p. 424), so they must be unknown to me as God’s child, made in His image and likeness, as the Bible says. It didn’t appear that anything was broken, but an ugly bruise was developing on my arm, and my head was banged up. I called a Christian Science practitioner for prayer.
As I continued to stick with the truth that God, good, was keeping me safe in every way, I rejected the claim that evil had any place in God’s kingdom. Rather than fretting over innumerable details of the construction, I chose to sit at the feet of Christ and take in the message of God’s allness and care.
I felt so comforted knowing that so long as I kept my focus on what God was doing, I would see that I was totally cared for. And every detail of the construction would be cared for as well. Within a short time, the bruising vanished from my arm, and the other injuries also cleared up quickly. We finished the house and moved in just days before a planned family event.
The example of Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus shows us how crucial it is to acknowledge and accept the message that we are the loved children of God.
Adapted from an article published in the July 10, 2023, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.