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By Lindsey Huffman

When asked to consider great gifts we’ve received in our lives, we may think back to the red, shiny bike we got for Christmas when we were seven, or the puppy our family finally decided to buy. How many of us, though, would think of the gift of Christian Science which God has given to the world through our leader, Mary Baker Eddy? It is this gift that fills us with gratitude and joy because it is straight from God — not a material gift, but a spiritual one. 

In the Bible, we can read about God’s promise of His gift of Christian Science. Last week’s lesson on “Substance” includes this passage from James: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). God’s perfection is expressed from the beginning of creation in His gifts, and the gift of Christian Science is no exception.

Christian Science has been proven time and time again since the 1800s as fully applicable and practical — bringing absolute healing in all types of situations. Mary Baker Eddy writes in Miscellany that “Christian Science is a divine largess, a gift of God — understood by and divinely natural to him who sits at the feet of Jesus clothed in truth, who is putting off the hypothesis of matter because he is conscious of the allness of God…” (My. 349:11-15). This divinely perfect gift from God is unfolded to our thought as, daily, we strive to humbly follow Christ. To do so in our lives, we must turn to Soul’s spiritual senses, rather than the material senses, to see and acknowledge God’s supreme goodness — true substance. The result? Healing, or the necessary upliftment of thought, which brings solutions to human problems.

Part of Hymn 382 in the Christian Science Hymnal promises, “Thou hast the gift of God — Dominion over all.” To me, this verse indicates God’s gift of Christian Science bringing healing in my life and to the world. Christian Science is a spiritual blessing “freely given to us of God,” and as such, we don’t need to work to intellectually know how to use Christian Science (I Corinthians 2:12). Instead, we must simply “imbibe the spirit” in our healing works, showing gratitude for this great gift through our lives (SH 495:27-28). 

Personally, I experienced a healing when I was ill which showed a fuller sense of God’s goodness and the spiritual substance of His creation as seen through Christian Science. I was reminded by a friend that in hypnotist shows, an audience member only has to hold to one fact he or she absolutely understands to be true, in order to show the hypnotist that they will not submit to hypnotism. For me, instead of being hypnotized by the evidence of the material senses, I clung to the truth that Christian Science is a divine revelation from God. Therefore, I reasoned that Christian Science must heal absolutely, entirely, and swiftly. This thought brought much comfort, and before long, the mesmerism broke, and not only did I begin to breathe more easily, but I also recognized God, Love, right around me everywhere. Christian Science brought about this healing — and many others in the lives of Christian Scientists around the world — and it will always deliver those who rely on it from any false beliefs, whether they be of sickness and contagion, or sin and corruption. 

So, it seems fitting to say with Paul the Apostle in gratitude, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift” (II Corinthians 9:15). Christian Science is so good and perfect, and it is actively bringing healing to the world through the works of Christian Scientists.