Overcoming mistakes

One day I was mulling over a mistake I’d made that had caused conflict in a relationship. Upset, I thought, “Why’d I do that? How can I forgive myself?”

Then I began listening to that week’s Christian Science Bible Lesson, made up of passages from the Bible and from “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science. I was struck by something Christ Jesus said to a man he had just healed: “Thou art made whole” (John 5:14).

To me, that phrase emphasized that he was already whole, made by God as the expression of His spiritual and good nature – not a mortal with ailments or a sinful nature. I then realized that this applies to all of us.

Whenever we’re faced with mistakes, we can affirm that they’re not part of our true, spiritual nature (or anyone’s). This doesn’t mean we ignore or excuse wrongdoings, but rather that we correct them through understanding what is true about everyone’s intact, complete, pure identity, and subsequently living it.

What is not true about our identity as God’s children has no ability to change the truth about what we are. But a lie can’t forever stay uncorrected. After Jesus told the man he was made whole, he instructed, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.”

Jesus wasn’t contradicting himself – he was emphasizing we must live by our true nature or we’ll continue to suffer in our ignorance. And Science and Health states, “If you believe in and practise wrong knowingly, you can at once change your course and do right” (p. 253).

We can monitor our thoughts, listen for God’s loving guidance, and strive to live that guidance at every moment. God doesn’t make mistakes, and as we seek to demonstrate our true nature as God’s perfect, spiritual creation, this opens the way to redemption and reformation in our experience. Yes, we can and must make necessary reparations, but it’s always good to remember, “Thou art made whole.”

Adapted from the July 14, 2022, Christian Science Daily Lift podcast.