“To doubt is to dishonor God,” I told an anxious friend on her way to address a large crowd, something she rarely did. Affirming that she existed to honor, not dishonor, God helped turn her from doubting her own abilities to trusting God’s presence and power. The talk went well.
When we struggle with self-doubt, it seems as if succeeding in life, or even simply surviving, is all about us – about our capacities or seeming lack of them. But the most profound, illimitable power undergirds our ability to make progress: namely, divine power. It’s leaning on the belief in a lesser power than God that’s problematic. As Mary Baker Eddy says in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” “Omnipotence has all-power, and to acknowledge any other power is to dishonor God” (p. 228).
We can know that in whatever way self-doubt whispers into thought “I am you,” it isn’t us or our thinking. We are created to honor God in knowing and proving that there is no other power than God. And to the degree that we see through the opposite view to the truth that God is the only source or influencer of our abilities, we find that we can think, say, and do whatever we need to.
This is not replacing a can’t-do outlook with a can-do spirit. It’s the profound admission to ourselves that God is Spirit and that we are created in God’s image. So while self-doubt can seem to us logical, even inevitable, we have a God-reflecting spiritual sense that tells us otherwise. To this spiritual sense, it’s clear that it’s by our reflection of God, not by personal prowess, that we’re enabled to not only survive but thrive, to not only succeed ourselves but ever more broadly bless others, too.
This God-basis for accomplishing good was demonstrated by Jesus in a multitude of ways. Nobody has achieved as much as he did. Yet he said, “I can of mine own self do nothing” (John 5:30). His ministry of healing the sick and uplifting broken lives through his understanding of God illustrates that our capacity to do good is in proportion to our trust in God’s goodness and power. He also showed that we have no power independent of God.
While that can sound limiting, understanding this truth is actually liberating. It turns us from obsessively analyzing what we think we are or are not capable of to the recognition of what God, infinite good, always is and does. In a letter to members of a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, Mrs. Eddy wrote, “Forget not for a moment, that God is All-in-all – therefore, that in reality there is but one cause and effect” (“Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896,” p. 154).
Some years after my friend’s talk, trusting the allness of God helped me overcome distrust in my abilities when I was invited to address a large audience on a topic I felt was too much of a stretch for me. As I tried to calm my doubts, I drew a blank until Christ, God’s assurance of His timeless authority, lifted my thought from feeling inadequate to pondering God’s infinite allness. I asked myself, “Is it possible that the day after the talk, you’ll look back and say that God wasn’t All-in-all yesterday?”
I could see that that couldn’t be, because God, like the Christ that expresses Him, is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). And so it transpired. Things I had dreaded didn’t occur. What I shared was well received.
On this basis of God’s allness, we can always affirm, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13). Accepting Christ, Truth – the Science of being – exalts our ability to contribute to family, community, church, and beyond. It brings out in us qualities that constitute our reflection of God, such as patience, perseverance, diligence, joy, and insightfulness. In turn, this enables us to hone skills by which we glorify God and are better prepared to love our neighbor. As Science and Health puts it, “A knowledge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity” (p. 128).
Every one of us is created to honor, not dishonor, God. We can assert in our prayer, accept in our hearts, and increasingly experience in our lives that there is no power apart from the All-in-all. So there is nothing to stop us from thinking, saying, and doing whatever thoughts, words, and deeds are needed to bless and be blessed.
Adapted from an editorial published in the Nov. 10, 2025, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.
