Running a race

The Olympics, at their best, celebrate athletic strength, skill and ability. I don’t know if the Apostle Paul in the Bible had ever been an athlete but he winningly used the analogy of a race to convey the excellence needed to exercise Christ’s dominion over the body—over matter.

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
(I Corinthians 9:24-27)

If challenges arise with the body, Christian Science gives us a path to prove our dominion over them. We can come to understand that our real spiritual being is always the image and likeness of God, never subject to matter, to muscles, blood, bones, nerves, etc. This results in physical healing, in knowing we are always animated by the one infinite Mind, God. Here is a quote from our textbook by Mary Baker Eddy:

The Christ was the Spirit which Jesus implied in his own statements: “I am the way, the truth, and the life;” “I and my Father are one.” This Christ, or divinity of the man Jesus, was his divine nature, the godliness which animated him. Divine Truth, Life, and Love gave Jesus authority over sin, sickness, and death. His mission was to reveal the Science of celestial being, to prove what God is and what He does for man.
(From Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy)

What race are you running? Let it be the race of mastery over the body through the power of Christ. Key elements of which include temperance, honesty and glory to God.

We invite you to learn more at our Testimony Meeting this Wednesday at 7:30 pm (Central). It’s held for the community at Brookdale of Glen Ellyn, 60 Nicoll Way, next to Aldie’s. You can also join in by Zoom.