There is an exhilarating power that builds within when one shares Christian Science freely with neighbors.

Last Friday, I spoke at a Seventh Day Adventist college to a comparative religions class about Christian Science. I was well received and eagerly embraced by a class of sixteen students who drilled me on my practice of this teaching.

I thrive on answering questions, and the questions came.

They asked

• Do you believe in Satan?
• Is there an afterlife?
• If Christ is Truth, then how can people who don’t know Christ find Truth?
• If matter isn’t real, why go to the mountains to vacation?
• What if someone dies when you are praying for them?
• What about hell?
• How do you pray?
• Do you believe in baptism?

And the questions went on and on… It was easy to fill the time, and they sent me off with a healthy round of applause. All but one student took a copy of Science and Health. I hope to return next year.

These types of opportunities to share inspire me for days. I forget about myself when giving, tune into God and listen for answers that enlighten my audience. I feel healthier and happier afterward, confident that a good deed was done. I bounce out of the classroom ready to do it all again.

Christian Science can be like a bottle of perfume. The cap on the bottle needs to be opened, and a little of the scent released to be of good effect in the surrounding environment. Sealed in the jar it’s of no use to anyone. In super concentrated form, it’s too powerful to enjoy. It needs to be released. Then its delicious odor has a chance to be appreciated.

There’s a lesson here for each of us. If a student of Christian Science, we cannot keep it to ourselves and receive the full blessing it is capable of bringing into our experience. Much of the blessing comes from sharing it freely and joyfully with our neighbor.

Yes, we need to share with understanding, but the understanding comes as the desire is nurtured. Practice finds the right words and discovers the helpful examples that illustrate the point we’re making.

“Preach the gospel to the world,” commanded Jesus. He didn’t say, “If you get around to it,” or “If you want to…” He instructed, “Preach the gospel!”

I can see from experience that orally ministering to others is not only to spread the Word, but to benefit ourselves. We grow in the offering. Preaching is for the giver and the receiver.

So, don’t hold back. Welcome any opportunity to share Christian Science. Your audience will be blessed and you will be too!