I had a major Aha moment in church recently.
I was pondering what all Christ saves us from.
According to the Bible, Christ came to save us from sin. Right? Right.
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” I Tim 1:15
But I began to wonder what “to be saved from sin,” meant in practical everyday terms.
It certainly means morally and spiritually improved lives—leaving selfishness, greed, lust, dishonesty, adultery, and all their kin behind. Accepting Christ is more than a mere verbal commitment. It’s a way of life that demonstrates spiritual purity and holiness.
But it also means being saved from any and all beliefs that would separate us in thought and experience from Spirit.
Jesus taught his followers to leave the material world behind with all its temporary goals, aspirations and desires. He did not teach people how to get comfortable in a material world, but how to get out of it, and enter the kingdom of heaven, the realm of Spirit.
Salvation through Christ is more than becoming a better person, a more God-like representative. It means being saved from the belief that one is material, mortal, temporary and dependent upon matter for life and sustenance. It means dropping all worldly aspirations and dreams. It means ceasing to identify with physicality and mortality. It means seeing oneself in God’s image, which is wholly spiritual.
Salvation through Christ is not reserved to happen after death. It is a spiritual awakening to spiritual reality in the here and now of everyday experience.
One cannot cling to matter, to physique, to material dreams, and grow in Christ at the same time. One has to let go of temporal ideals to truly grab onto the spiritual ideal and run with it.
Christ is our spirituality, our spiritual individuality, our immortality. We have it now to fully experience. It is not found in material pursuit, but through spiritual awakening, striving and enlightenment.
Wow! Sounds like a tall order, but it is doable. Jesus has showed us how…
Wow, indeed. Thanks, Evan! Christianity is so much more than it appears to be. These posts of yours are a guide and a reminder of that.
Evan,
I love this post – it certainly makes clear what is the Christian imperative, and it’s not just trying to be a good mortal until you die – it’s learning to REAL-ize your immortality in the here and now. It is something I’ve been working on for a long time – all my life I guess – and I think I’m making progress but it does seem slow, and there are still times when I lack confidence in my ability to demonstrate greater spirituality. So, I’m curious… having been a teacher for a long time and a practitioner even longer, have you ever had to struggle with a sense of confidence in your ability to demonstrate your salvation practically in your everyday experience, and, if so, has your confidence grown over time as you’ve worked through different challenges? How do we develop the confidence that salvation from the limitations of material living is a present possibility and, in the longer run, perhaps, inevitable?
To Ruth,
You ask, “Do I ever have a crisis of confidence?” or something similar…
No. I’m absolutely convinced that my life is eternal. I have no doubt about it. No matter what happens materially, and to me humanly, it will never touch me, the eternal child of God. I am very confident of this truth, and its this truth that keeps me going no matter what I face.
Having said that, I also am keenly aware that I have much understanding to gain in order to fully demonstrate this truth. It is my daily goal to grow in this understanding. And I have a lot of patience with myself as I learn through trial, study and constant prayer what is true and what is not true.
But no matter how big evil appears to be at times, I still have no doubt at all that it will become obviously unreal at some point as my understanding continues to grow.
Hope that helps.
Thanks Evan. It seems this subject comes up a lot in the jails where I go to visit with the inmates. It’s nice to hear it expressed a little differently and confirm I’m on the right track. It’s always fun to explore and deepen their understanding of the common ground that exist between other faiths and Christian Science.
Thanks again.
Evan,
I have difficulty giving up human aspirations and goals. Mrs. Eddy says that God is the source of our humanhood, and there’s nothing wrong with pleasure as long as it’s not based on something sinful. I learned in class that God is the source of the good in the human.
This year I had a physical challenge that is taking awhile to get back to a normal life. And what I’ve missed most is the normal human activities I enjoyed: classes in New York City, graduation school plans, going to art museums, teaching children, feeling productive. Unlike you and other CS practitioners and teachers who I’ve heard many say they always wanted to be a practitioner, I didn’t have that desire so much as teaching children and being involved in the humanities. I’d prefer to use the spiritual principles I’ve learned not sitting at home waiting for people to call me for help, but living what I learned in the world, teaching children to read, an SAT class, design classes, training teachers–all of which I’ve done and love to do and miss. But are those worldly aspirations? I love the good in the human: learning, music, theater, literature, art, travel, architecture, humor etc. How do you know if you love the world too much? I keep praying “Thy will be done”, but I have missed what were my normal human activities. It’s great to study CS for an hour or so, but then I want to go into the world and and teach a child to read, or teach a classroom of teachers, or design a new class–and use it. Would rather outsource healing to a practitioner who loves to sit home and heal–as some have told me they love to do. I’d like to feel that way, but don’t. Maybe my gifts of the Spirit are different. Do you have any clarity on this?
Dear last commenter, “NYC Anonymous:
”
Did I write that…what you wrote? I SO understand where you are!
My friend, may we ever-strive to LET Divine Love meet the human need! Love–like the sunlight–is
ever-seeking to enlighten, enliven, warm, lift, show the way…and is so so so capable of this—IS DOING IT right
now—and the only ‘resistance’ is from the so-called brain-mind that is confused about what to listen to.
God, true Mind, is the One to listen to! if Love says, “No need to sit in your cold dark cell, Maria. Go, “climb
that mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow, til you find your dream!” (Sound of Music)
Til we find out perfect, existing, connection to divine Life, Truth, Love, we must seek and search.
There is a short path to this, it is true: but Love
knows exactly where we are and how to get us to where we need to go.
I know you agree!!!
In Love,
:<))
To NYC anon,
You ask many thoughtful questions!
You mention feeling limited right now to do all those activities you list that you’ve enjoyed to do in the past. Perhaps you’re very healing lies in understanding the answer to the very questions you ask.
Interestingly, I read your view of what a practitioner does, “sit at home and wait for calls.” I can’t even relate to that concept! I don’t know who you’re talking about? Sounds boring to me. My life is so active as a practitioner and the services of a practitioner in such high demand, I can’t imagine sitting around waiting for anything. Who has time for that?
I’m smiling as I type here because I know what you mean, but I’m pushing back on a false concept of what it means to study and practice CS. The practice of CS is the most active of activities one could ever engage in. Yes, it’s metaphysical, but everything is metaphysical. You can’t teach children without being engaged with ideas. You can’t draw, write, bicycle, take a hike, entertain, and so on, without ideas. Everything worthwhile to do involves ideas. It’s all metaphysical. Without the ideas, there is nothing. We live in a universe of Mind.
So, yes, we do have to sacrifice a material sense of the universe to engage with this Mind and be more productive and more profitably engaged. That’s the “letting go” I refer to.
Material aspirations fall flat and inevitably peter out. They may soar for a while, but they will fizzle and leave one wanting. Spiritual aspirations take you to the heights of Mind and discover the wealth of Spirit all around–health and enduring happiness too.
Some people are demonstrating their spiritua aspirations today in a classroom, raising a family, offering a needed business service, painting, and so on. But the faster the material is let go and the spiritual grabbed on to, the faster the progress and the better the outcome.
Those are a few of my thoughts anyway…
Evan:
Yes, your thought that finding the answers to the questions re: life, aspirations, activities etc. might aid physical healing is one reason why I keep asking the questions.
I have looked at previous careers and activities as helping people find the kingdom of heaven within themselves through developing their talents and skills, creating heaven on earth in a classroom or business, and utilizing spiritual principles in our human environment whether it be home or classroom or office.
Sitting at home praying, studying, writing out treatments, talking to practitioners, listening to audiochats and lectures online has been like a CS grad school this past year.
However, at times, not having the usual accomplishment in helping a lot of people and having much human contact, I’ve felt unproductive. It made me realize, however, that my sense of worth was perhaps too tied to what I did and how I could contribute. So, the human ego dissolves pretty easily, when you can’t do anything and then you recall that Jesus said he didn’t do anything, and he wasn’t a good master, it was God’s doing and God was the source of all good. So, yes the human ego has gotten pretty mashed up this past year which is positive.
And it’s easier to lose human will, if you can’t do what your will wants to do anyway. Usually I tell God what I want to do, and then tell Him however, Thy will be done. I rarely tell God what I want anymore, but there’s occasional yearning for it.
Yes, I’d come to the conclusion that whatever activity and arena we’re involved with we need to see the spiritual essence of it, and the spiritual power supporting us, and utilize spiritual law as much as possible and human effort less. So maybe that’s another important lesson that needed to be deepened this past year. I was kind of going on spiritual fumes in the past years.
And patience and gratitude in the face of challenges I’m learning. So maybe those are the answers, or some of them anyway….Thanks for your insights and perspective on the practice. I had the feeling you’d say your spiritual style wasn’t the-sit-at home-and-wait-for-the-phone-to ring after seeing your lecture.
Anonymous NYC
Aw, thank you…we’re on the same wavelength!
Hugs,
Great discussion!
Thanks!
Thanks for the posts. Pardon me if I sound too naive but I’m pretty new to CS. What I want to know more is what the exact daily practicality that is doable and reflect the Salvation we have received?
Can you help to give an example?
Thanks/Momo
Hi Momo,
The daily practical application of working out your salvation is to strive for more Christliness in everything you do. “Put on the mind of Christ,” as Paul taught.
The Mind of Christ is pure, moral, spiritually inspired.
So, every step to a more moral life is working out your salvation. Every step to be more spirituall minded is working out your salvation.
To succeed, one must put off unspiritual and immoral ways of thinking and doing. We must improve morally and spiritually, be a better person at the end of the day than at the beginning.
The ultimate salvation is pure spiritual consciousness, knowing only God’s goodness and your reflection of it.
Hope that helps!