In the spiritual universe of God’s creating, the law of divine Love governs all. Because God is infinite and fills all space, there is no place for anything to exist outside of God’s authority. His entire creation, including each one of us, is held within divine Love’s jurisdiction, where all operates in perfect harmony.
This law of Love was the basis of Christ Jesus’ healing ministry. Through his understanding of God’s omnipotence, he fed the hungry, redeemed the wayward, restored the sick. Jesus did not manipulate the physical body or material conditions to bring about harmony. Instead, he turned humbly and expectantly to God, the source of all good, to correct whatever appeared wrong. Jesus honored the law of Love in all that he said and did, and he expected to witness the operation of this law.
Mary Baker Eddy, a lifelong student of the Bible and especially of Jesus’ teachings, states in her book “No and Yes,” “God’s law is in three words, ‘I am All;’ and this perfect law is ever present to rebuke any claim of another law” (p. 30).
In the Christian Science textbook, Mrs. Eddy writes, “In the year 1866, I discovered the Christ Science or divine laws of Life, Truth, and Love, and named my discovery Christian Science” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 107).
She explains that Jesus’ remarkable healings were not miracles that happened in contradiction to divine law, but rather, they were the natural result of applying it. And she shows us how we can follow Jesus’ example by applying the law of Love in our own lives.
Two experiences I had demonstrate this. One day when I picked up my daughter’s dog to care for him while the family was away, I noticed that he kept rubbing one of his eyes. He was obviously uncomfortable, and the area around the eye was inflamed. I knew there was an effective spiritual remedy at hand. I could appeal to the law of Love for healing.
That didn’t mean asking God to fix a physical eye to make the itching stop, but that I could understand that this dear pet was entirely spiritual and governed only by God’s law – the law of Love. This meant that he had never been out of God’s tender care, even for a moment. Nothing could breach his oneness with God, and this guaranteed his safety.
I prayed to better understand this spiritual law, and felt divine Love’s presence and power dissolving the fear that any one of God’s creatures could be subject to discomfort. Within the hour, the dog’s eye was completely normal. The redness and itching were gone, and I rejoiced in this proof that the law of Love heals.
Another time, I awakened one morning with a pain in my neck, which made moving uncomfortable. As I studied and prayed, I gained a strong conviction that there was no need to put up with this pain and just wait for it to disappear. Instead, I could have freedom right away by applying the law of Love.
I have studied Christian Science all my life and had actually found quick healing from this problem in the past by understanding God’s allness and the nothingness of illness. Science and Health assured me, “Truth, Life, and Love are a law of annihilation to everything unlike themselves, because they declare nothing except God” (p. 243).
I reasoned that only a false belief was being presented to my thought, and I did not need to accept it. I could safely see the discomfort as having no more reality than a dream. Awaking to the truth of God’s allness and man’s oneness with God, good, brought quick release from the pain. That afternoon I went on a four-mile hike in the woods with my daughters and their husbands and had complete freedom of movement.
Maintained by the law of Love, we are all “cared for, watched over, beloved and protected,” as one of my favorite hymns states. Knowing this enables us to “walk … with courage each step of the way” (P.M., “Christian Science Hymnal,” No. 278).
Adapted from an article published in the January 2023 issue of The Christian Science Journal.
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