What does Spirit do in our lives?

At those times when we feel up against a brick wall – whether in a relationship, with a work issue, or with a health concern – what good does it do to realize and understand what Spirit, or God, is doing?

As a starting point, Spirit, a biblical name for God, creates, governs, and maintains all that is spiritual, all that is real. That includes each of us as spiritual offspring of God. Spirit is continuously emanating all goodness, harmony, purity, and right activity; and in truth, we’re all included in that boundless harmony. So this is what Spirit is continuously doing – this is the operation of Spirit.

But how is Spirit’s activity evident in our day-to-day experience? How does it come into our lives? How can we tangibly experience that Spirit is not “out there” while we’re “over here” flailing about?

In the Christian Science textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” Mary Baker Eddy writes of Christ as “the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness” (p. 332) and “the divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error” (p. 583). So it’s through Christ that Spirit, God, reaches our thought – human consciousness – and transforms our day-to-day experience. Spirit, God, and His Christ are continuously active.

Centuries ago, Jesus fully expressed Christ, and he consistently expressed this saving power of God whether he was talking with a stranger he’d just met or a group of lawyers discussing aspects of rabbinical law or healing someone desperately ill. Through his example, he showed us how we can hear and feel Christ, and thus become aware of what God is doing.

Jesus said, “I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me” (John 8:28, New Living Translation). We too can be conscious of what the Father, Spirit, is saying to us. We can be confident today that Spirit is still communicating in practical ways, because the eternal Christ comes endlessly to human consciousness, showing us our actual spiritual nature. And this divine influence, Christ, is actually “ever present in human consciousness” (Science and Health, p. xi); it just needs to be recognized and accepted.

When faced with challenges that extend beyond our personal lives, into our families, churches, communities, and the world, we can turn to God for solutions, rather than willfully holding to a desired human outcome, and give attention to what Spirit is doing and Christ is communicating. Where our own perspective may seem limited or woefully inadequate, we can turn to spiritual ideas, which are not finite or self-serving, and find that God’s ideas are infinite, life-affirming, and intelligent. And they bless all involved.

I found that acknowledging and yielding to the divine activity of Spirit – being aware of intelligence and ideas beyond my own – overcame stress and indecision in academic work during my college days. This fresh expression of what Spirit does through Christ beautifully met my study needs at the time and has elevated or healed countless other situations since, resulting in, for example, career demands being effectively fulfilled and my family’s needs being met.

Human ego diminishes as we yield to the influence of Christ and find that Spirit brings together harmoniously the ideas that are most pertinent in any given situation. Sincere study of the Bible and Science and Health helps to cultivate spiritual sense, which enables us to see human needs met, loosens the grip of materialism, nourishes our spiritual progress, and brings about healing.

Desiring to know the thoughts that Spirit is gathering into consciousness leads to an increased capacity for good in our lives – our own and others’. But what if there doesn’t seem to be much evidence of good going on? We can humbly acknowledge and yield to Christ as an active influence, which steadies us, enabling us to feel the peace and calm and deeply rejuvenating and restorative nature of Spirit, God. This awakens us to more firmly acknowledge that Spirit does create, govern, and maintain all that is real, all that is spiritual.

Jesus promised reliable peace when he said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you” (John 14:27). The peace he promised his followers has the substance of infinite Spirit, and through spiritual sense it can be discerned anywhere. When we acknowledge what Spirit is doing, it grounds our thought on the firm foundation of Spirit. Christ, Truth, brings all right, healing ideas to us today, as we yield to Spirit’s dynamic activity.

Adapted from an editorial published in the October 2023 issue of The Christian Science Journal.