Skip to footer

Always free

Considering our innate goodness and wholeness as God’s children opens the door to healing.

  • By Karen Neff

Christian Science Perspective audio edition
Loading the player...

Who doesn’t crave freedom in their life – whether from illness, fear, or something else?

Christ Jesus offered this encouragement: “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31, 32).

This promised freedom isn’t limited to some vague time in the future. It’s a promise for right here and now. The truth that heals is the fundamental fact that we are not mortals with problems, but entirely spiritual – God’s children. We’re designed to eternally reflect God, Spirit, who is perfect.

One time I asked God in prayer for inspiration that would bring freedom from leg pain that was bothering me. “You already are free,” was the immediate and potent answer. As I considered that revolutionary thought for a few minutes, the pain disappeared completely and permanently.

Man – meaning all of us in our true, spiritual nature – is already free. We reflect God’s wholeness and goodness. That’s what Jesus proved throughout his healing ministry. Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, wrote, “The Christlike understanding of scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Principle and idea, – perfect God and perfect man, – as the basis of thought and demonstration” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 259).

To understand, through the power of Christ – God’s healing message of truth and love – that we are already spiritually free can be transformative and redeeming. This is the salvation that comes to us from God, divine Love, in a way that we can both understand and experience. Our spiritual sense, given to us by God, enables us to discern – even when circumstances indicate otherwise – that not only are we already free, but we always have been.

In the Bible, Paul, whose own character was thoroughly reformed through Christ, wrote, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1, 2). Freedom is an irrevocable, holy law of God. Recognizing this opens our eyes to see and experience that freedom more tangibly, even where it feels as though we are stuck.

Science and Health gives this insight, using the biblical name “I AM” to refer to God: “The everlasting I AM is not bounded nor compressed within the narrow limits of physical humanity, nor can He be understood aright through mortal concepts” (p. 256). And neither can God’s idea, man, be “bounded or compressed” as His reflection! I’ve frequently found that praying from the standpoint that God’s children are forever free, forever safe, and forever well brings freedom from physical as well as mental captivity.

No matter what kind of circumstance or condition threatens, there’s a path to healing in Christ Jesus’ promise mentioned above. As we embrace the spiritual truth that we already and always are free, this understanding brings about help and healing.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Always free
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/A-Christian-Science-Perspective/2023/1206/Always-free
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe