Fresh winds of transformation and healing

When a friend of mine met the man she would end up marrying, she learned that he was a Christian Scientist and relied on prayer for healing. The first time she went with him to a party hosted by his church friends, he told her she’d probably notice that nobody there was smoking or drinking. She was interested in how the people she was getting to know turned to God and prayer in their daily lives, and she really liked the ideas she was learning. In fact, something stirred in her.

She was more intrigued when, weeks later, the janitor at work commented that her ashtray was never dirty anymore. Wow! How did her smoking drop away without her specifically trying to stop – or really realizing it?

Smooth, natural transformation, like in this experience, can sound mind-blowing to folks. But being moved by the desire to identify ourselves spiritually and to align the way we live our lives more closely with God is like opening a window to allow the breeze to come in and freshen the whole house. Then healing happens naturally.

These fresh winds of transformation and healing that change lives were apparently common happenings around the time of Christ Jesus, and it’s something worth serious consideration. The Bible tells of when a Roman centurion approached Jesus about healing a servant who was “sick of the palsy, grievously tormented” (see Matthew 8:5-13). When Jesus offered to follow the centurion home, he asked Jesus to “speak the word only,” convinced that that would be sufficient to heal his servant. And it was; the servant recovered in that same hour.

So, what was present – both where Jesus and the centurion were, and where the servant was – that acted upon their lives, as it acted upon my friend’s life? The Bible speaks of God as divine, ever-present Spirit and Love, the ultimate Life and Truth, infinite and eternal. Nothing good would happen without this infinite God, and the infinite goodness of God causes only good results. Clearly, God was right there with Jesus and the centurion as much as He was with the servant.

Jesus had been explaining his ministry of spiritual living and healing, emphasizing that it was God who did the works. “I can of mine own self do nothing,” he said (John 5:30). Jesus did not need to see the servant, did not need to touch or medicate him. Jesus demonstrated that he and the centurion and his servant were receptive enough to let the divine Spirit be the healing power. Then, restoration to health followed.

The healing started with the centurion’s honest desire for the healing of his servant, and a recognition that such healing comes from God’s authority moved the centurion to seek out Jesus, who had been preaching about God’s healing power. Jesus recognized and responded to the centurion’s desire, and in healing his servant, gave us proof of God as the source of life and health.

We, too, can seek healing by understanding more fully God’s ever-presence at every moment and yielding to His love and truth. Through a sincere desire and willingness to see our oneness with God, beliefs in human or material power naturally diminish, making way for God’s wonderful presence and power to fill our consciousness. Then we see the healing results.

Jesus’ disciples were learning this – learning that healing comes not through a person but through receptivity to God. The founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, writes of the disciple Peter coming to understand this: “It was now evident to Peter that divine Life, Truth, and Love, and not a human personality, was the healer of the sick and a rock, a firm foundation in the realm of harmony. On this spiritually scientific basis Jesus explained his cures, which appeared miraculous to outsiders. He showed that diseases were cast out neither by corporeality, by materia medica, nor by hygiene, but by the divine Spirit, casting out the errors of mortal mind” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 138).

Looking for and finding healing and transformation is about yielding to the action of God’s love and righteousness in us. This comes from a deep desire to make a break from anything keeping us from discovering what we ultimately are as God’s offspring. Then the peace, honesty, and wisdom of God replace destructive, mortal thinking. And we are invigorated, transformed, and healed by the fresh winds of spiritual understanding.