The renewing action of the Christ

Bea Roegge | from The Christian Science Journal

New beginnings have their special attraction. Not only do they anticipate better times, but they provide the opportunity for us to put aside that which we no longer wish to live with. Whether it is a bad memory, a negative view of ourselves, or an addiction that we want to put behind us, freedom from the past can be cause for great rejoicing.

Fresh starts can come in ways that are as varied as the troubles they help erase. What is constant, though, if spiritual guidance is sought, is that a successful fresh start involves drawing closer to God. It is praying humbly that our lives be reconciled to our Father-Mother God, to discover more of our true nature as the image and likeness of this heavenly Parent, and to follow the teachings and example of Christ Jesus more closely.

A fresh start brings more of God’s creation to light.

A fresh start that flows from an individual’s keen insight about spiritual reality not only improves one’s own life, but impacts the entire culture. It brings to light more of God’s eternal creation, in a way revealing the kingdom of heaven on earth. This is the action of the Christ, which reforms and heals humankind.

The Bible promises, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Cor. 5:17). And in the Glossary of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. 583), Mary Baker Eddy defined Christ as “the divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error.” This Christ, or Truth, comes right to where the error seems to be and proves this error—whether it be a past hurt or a present difficulty—to have no true power. Instead, the Christ reveals what is true, showing that what appears to be new evidence of good was really present all along.

The Christ promises a genuine fresh start.

This renewing action of the Christ is wholly spiritual. A needed change does not happen as the result of a mere human decision to put off the old, but involves the individual’s being subjugated to the Divine. It is only Christ, the divine manifestation of God, that promises a genuine fresh start.

I began to learn this important lesson when I was freed from an addiction to smoking cigarettes. I had gotten trapped by this habit while I was in college, when a cigarette manufacturer gave out free samples. It was only after a couple of years of smoking, however, that I wanted to quit. I would throw away packages of cigarettes and in a few days buy more. I felt guilty all the time, because in those days women were taught that they should not smoke.

Then, when my husband and I began to study Christian Science, I regained hope that I could be freed of this addiction. Immediately I began getting a purer sense of my spiritual identity and stopped indulging in guilt. I had also been praying with a Christian Science practitioner as I learned more about Christian Science, though she seemed not to care whether I smoked or not. Once when I mentioned the habit, her reply was that I had more important things to think about, implying, as I see it now, that I had much to learn about demonstrating Christian Science. In other words, there is more to healing than merely fixing a visible problem. Nevertheless, I made the decision to stop smoking and was sure that I could pull it off this time. Again, I failed.

I had much to learn about demonstrating Christian Science.

But why, when my desires were now more pure than ever? “The currents of human nature rush in against the right course …” wrote Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science. It was obvious that in my case, human impulsiveness had rushed in again to take the course of exercising will power in order for me to try to quit the habit. Mrs. Eddy’s statement continues later, “The law of Love saith, ‘Not my will, but Thine, be done,’ and Christian Science proves that human will is lost in the divine …” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 212).

“Not my will, but thine,be done.”

My hourly prayer from then on was Jesus’ prayer “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). Jesus’ words here correspond with his petition in the Lord’s Prayer “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). Mrs. Eddy’s spiritual interpretation of this reads, “Enable us to know,—as in heaven, so on earth,—God is omnipotent, supreme” (Science and Health, p. 17). As I was finding out, there is in fact a will, but it is divine. And this spiritual sense of the Lord’s Prayer indicates the way that our lives—all our thoughts and actions—come under the control of this divine will. It is to know the omnipotence and supremacy of God right here, right now, and to recognize no other influence than His Christ.

With this new spiritual insight, I determined not to use human will to stop smoking. From that time on I never had another cigarette. It didn’t even seem as if I had stopped smoking; it was more like I had never smoked. Cigarettes were still available, as my husband was not freed from the habit until later. But I was never tempted to pick one up or even think about doing so again. A whole new life of freedom was before me. The old had truly passed away—as if it had never been. It was like awakening from a dream, in that the addiction had only seemed real until I realized it had never been a part of me.

This awakening is poetically expressed in a verse of a hymn (Rosa M. Turner, Christian Science Hymnal, No. 202) that commands:

O dreamer, leave thy dreams for joyful waking,
O captive, rise and sing, for thou art free;

The Christ is here, all dreams of error breaking,
Unloosing bonds of all captivity.

That we can awaken from the dream of being captive to old beliefs about ourselves is a constantly renewed promise. The Biblical affirmation “ye have put off the old man with his deeds” indicates that mortal selfhood, with its faults and frailties, is not the real status of anyone, now or ever. The “old man” that is being laid off never had a real selfhood. It was simply an illusion, a misrepresentation of the real and eternal individuality of God’s creating. The next verse talks about putting on “the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” (Col. 3:9, 10). Putting on the new man is not exchanging a mortal for an improved material model. It is a recognition of the enduring perfection of God’s creation—a recognition of the Christ, the true identity of each one of us.

The enduring perfection of God’s creation.

Christ Jesus best represented the real man and has been an example to millions throughout the centuries. It is interesting that the celebration of a new year follows only a few days after the birth of Jesus is honored. And herein, I feel, lies the pattern for all new beginnings. Let Christ come into our hearts and reveal what is true about God’s creation, thus inspiring new lives to replace the old. And these new lives are certain to uplift others as well.

We cannot help but rejoice in this Christly activity of putting off the old and putting on the new that a new year symbolizes. Happy New Year!