God Loves You and so do I! Part Two

If you read Part One, it’s nice to have you back. If you’re a new reader, welcome!

Ok, another thing I love about you is that God made you perfect. God Himself is perfect so He can create only perfection. That’s one of the very basic teachings of Christian Science. No, not physically perfect, but spiritually perfect. You have a perfect, spiritual nature, comprised of countless good qualities derived from God. God made everyone equal, so no one has more of an ability to love than you, no one has been given more intelligence, more wisdom, no one is more capable than you are. God is impartial in His bestowals. The Bible says, “He is no respecter of persons.” (Acts 10:34.) He doesn’t respect one religion over another, one race over another, one gender over another. All are equally loved and spiritually equally perfect.

One way to realize, or become aware of your perfection is by doing things perfectly. The famous American painter, Robert Henri, once said, "Through art we realize our perfection." Well, what if you're not an artist? That's ok. There's the art of cooking. You can bake a perfect pie. Or the art of knitting. Or mowing a perfect lawn or planting a perfect garden can be an art. Just about anything we do, we can do artfully, perfectly. Even folding the laundry. You'd be amazed at how good you feel when you do something really well, really perfectly. It just makes one feel good about oneself and it helps us to see ourselves in a more perfect light. (try writing a perfect hub!)

You and I are God’s perfect idea. When God made you it’s almost as if He said, “What a great idea!” An idea can’t really be material. That would be too limiting. An idea is infinite. And it’s eternal. The number two is an idea, not a material object. It isn’t limited in the ways it can be used and it’s an eternal idea. So are you!

This idea that you are, the wonderful spiritual nature that we all have is called the Christ. Our natures are composed of Christ-like qualities.

One thing that might be helpful here is to explain, that according to the teachings of Christian Science, Jesus is not God. When John baptized Christ Jesus, when Jesus was about to begin his ministry, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11.) And at one time Jesus stated emphatically, (John 7:16) “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.” He came to glorify God and to teach us who we are as His sons and daughters so that we may glorify God too. A wonderful summary of his teachings is in his Sermon on the Mount, which includes the Beatitudes.

Jesus expressed the Christ better than anyone on this earth has, but all of us can express the qualities of the Christ. Jesus was deeply compassionate. We can be too. He was infinitely wise. We can be as wise as we desire, but thankfully we don’t have to manufacture those qualities ourselves; we can draw on them from God.

So if Jesus isn’t God, who or what is God? I’ll get to this in a moment.

The discoverer of Christian Science was a woman named Mary Baker Eddy. More about her later, but basically she wrote down what she discovered about God in the Bible in a book called Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. This is actually the textbook Christian Scientists study, along with the Bible, to learn more about God and about their own identity as God’s children.

(This book, by the way may purchased, read, and studied by anyone; it is definitely not exclusively for Christian Scientists, but for anyone who is interested in the Science of the Christ. This book can be found in libraries, in most bookstores, and from major online bookstores. It can also be found in Christian Science Reading Rooms, which are also not intended just for church members, but are for the general public. There is often a quiet area for study separate from the sales area, a peaceful refuge for people who want to read the Bible as well. Each Christian Science church maintains a Reading Room and they are usually listed in a phone book.)

Anyway, in Science and Health is a chapter called the Glossary. There Mrs. Eddy wrote her definition for God.

GOD. The great I AM; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence.

This is a concise definition, but her book talks about God throughout its 600 or so pages.

One definition that is important is the synonym, Principle. God governs His entire creation by His laws, much the same way that numbers are governed by the principle of mathematics. The comforting thing about a principle is that it is unchanging, solid. So if one synonym for God is Love, then wrath could be not part of this God. He would have to be (and is) pure Love constantly and consistently. Just think! God is NEVER angry with you. That's because God is not just loving, He is Love itself.

This is probably enough for now. Stay tuned for Part Three.

Meanwhile, have a great day and don't forget to let your light shine, in your garden, or in whatever unique way you express God.