No more harm

The news has been full of stories of deadly harm: stories in which anger, misogyny, white supremacy, hatred, and fear (and many other etceteras) have played huge roles.  And people have died.

We must act.  We must take back our peace.  We must protect those we love from harm.  And we must prevent those who would harm from making those awful choices.

We are not helpless.

All of those negative thoughts and character traits are not new.  You can find them in the Bible.  The Apostle Paul said, “the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

But he also offers a solution: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”  (Gal 5:19-22)  Paul was convinced that all of those wretched sins, including deadly harm, could be prevented and even undone, through confronting them with the power of the fruit of the Spirit.

Now, before you imagine that joy or meekness have no power before someone wielding a shotgun, consider this story from the Bible.  Jesus had just reprimanded the crowd with his references to Elijah and Elisha.  Luke, chapter 4 relates that “all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.  But he passing through the midst of them went his way.”

Their intent for him was deadly harm.  But this meek, peaceful, longsuffering and gentle man, simply walked through them.  And he said to us, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do.”  (John 14:12)  Jesus intended for us to be as safe – and as harmless – as he.

We need to know that we can be temperate or loving or faithful.  And not only under normal circumstances, but even in the face of violence, just as Jesus was.  The cure to any awful situation is living those qualities on a consistent basis, and with authority, recognizing their saving power.

Again, the Apostle Paul wrote, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 8:35, 37-39)

Let us be actively expressing the fruit of the Spirit.  Let us confront evil thoughts and actions with good thoughts and actions.  Let us overturn the verdict of helplessness with the authority of the Christ.

It is the only thing that will never fail.

Melissa Hayden is a Christian Science practitioner in Salem, OR. You can find more information and additional articles at this link.  If you like what you’re reading, click the “add me” button.

Get over it.

You’ve heard that statement before: usually it’s a little bit derisive.  But it’s often also a wakeup call: hey!  It’s time to move on.

Jesus never spoke derisively to any of the people he healed – but his message was pretty clear: withered hand? Get over it.  Issue of blood?  Get over it.  Death?  Get over it.

The Master didn’t get caught up in the details of why that hand was withered, or why that person was dead.  Nor did he suggest any kind of therapy or recovery leading up to healing.  It was just “get over it.” And they did.  Every one of them.

And he taught his disciples that getting over it was a natural expression of God’s love.  In fact, after Jesus ascended, the disciples continued to spread that good news for decades.  The book of Acts is full of accounts of people getting over it at the hands of the followers of Jesus.

But that’s not a phenomenon associated with only that time in history.  Jesus made clear that we too could get over it through the same fundamental Christianity he preached and practiced.

19th century theologian, author, and healer, Mary Baker Eddy wrote: “It is not well to imagine that Jesus demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good.”  (see Science and Health, page 494)  All mankind is you and me.  Every hour is here and now.

We can get over whatever “it” is simply by trusting the presence of divine Love – a power that Jesus said is ever present.  (Luke 15:31)  So, let’s get over thinking our problems are too big for God, are too hard for Love, are too long-standing for Spirit.  Let’s get over not trusting Deity to tenderly, safely lift us up and out of fear, sin, and sickness.  Let’s get over looking everywhere else first and turn with our whole hearts to the same heavenly Father that Jesus loved and trusted.

As the Apostle Paul said, “Now is the accepted time…”  (2 Cor 6:2)

Melissa Hayden is a Christian Science practitioner in Salem, OR. You can find more information and additional articles at this link.  If you like what you’re reading, click the “add me” button.

The last enemy.

Here’s how St. Paul explains it: The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.  Think of that.  Death is to be destroyed.  Maybe not right off the bat, but in the end, death is destroyed.  What does that mean for all the other enemies: sickness, fear, poverty, pain, loneliness, anger, resentment, sin, and all the etceteras?  Doesn’t it follow then, that if death is the last one, all of these additional enemies will be destroyed first?

When you look at Jesus’ life and example, he was regularly destroying each and every one of those enemies – including death.  He was making plain that any condition that challenged the health, happiness, and holiness of mankind could – and should – be destroyed.  Wow.  And he even said that we – his followers – would do the same thing (see John 14:12).  Double wow.

When you look out at all the solutions provided by the world – medicine, psychiatry, hypnotism, therapy, and on and on – not one of them offers any kind of pathway to destroy ALL of these enemies.  Sure, there are some options for managing, or even occasionally curing, but nothing that can come at all close to destroying.

Does that mean that we have to wait for some final event where all suffering will be destroyed at the same time as death?  No!  The Bible is really clear on this.  Jesus taught his followers to deal with all inharmony here and now.  And they did.  The book of Acts includes numerous examples of them healing sin, disease, and death.  And Jesus pointedly said this was the duty of anyone that followed him – you and me included.  (see John 14:15 and Matt. 10:8)  Triple wow.

So, let us search our hearts, ramp up our faith, deepen our understanding, spend more time pondering the true meaning of the Gospels, and expand our commitment to really be followers of our dear Lord as he commanded.  Since he was not kidding when he told us to go and do likewise, it is surely possible for us to be obedient.  And no enemy can withstand that.

Melissa Hayden is a Christian Science practitioner in Salem, OR. You can find more information and additional articles at this link.  If you like what you’re reading, click the “add me” button.

Medication

Have you seen the Pretendatrin YouTube video?  It’s a spoof of all the drug ads on TV, but really quite insightful too.  I was reminded of it when a friend shared her slip of the tongue with me.  She was praying with Psalm 119 and said “O how love I thy law! it is my medication all the day.”  That’s right.  Instead of meditation, she said medication.  But upon further reflection she realized it made a lot of sense.  God’s law as medication means you don’t need any other medicine.  After all, what could be more powerful than the medicine of Mind?

That’s a phrase coined by Mary Baker Eddy.  She wrote about it in Science and Health where she explains that Mind with a capital M is another name for God, found in the Bible.  Under the marginal heading of “Question of Precedence” she has this to say: “Which was first, Mind or medicine? If Mind was first and self-existent, then Mind, not matter, must have been the first medicine. God being All-in-all, He made medicine; but that medicine was Mind. It could not have been matter, which departs from the nature and character of Mind, God.”  (see page 142)

Wow.  Think about it.  If God, Mind is omnipotent as the Bible says (see Rev. 19:6) that doesn’t just mean that He’s the MOST powerful, that means He’s the ONLY power.  Period.  So that certainly means Mind is more powerful than disease.  And it also certainly means that Love – another Bible name for God – is more powerful than drugs.

A confirming verse from Psalms helps to explain: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases.”  (Ps 103: 2,3)  By the way, there are a number of additional benefits listed there too!

Let God’s law – the law of Love, the law of Mind – be your medication all the day, and you’ll be feeling better in no time.  Meditate on that!

Melissa Hayden is a Christian Science practitioner in Salem, OR. You can find more information and additional articles at this link.  If you like what you’re reading, click the “add me” button.

Why pray?

People ask me that all the time because it’s what I do for a living.  The short answer is, “because it works.”  Prayer brings results.  It calms me down, helps me to think more clearly from a spiritual viewpoint and to hear God’s voice, and it actually heals – not just me but those I pray for.

So, you might ask, given all of the “cures” out there – quick and easy fixes for just about anything – why pray?  Because all of the side effects are positive.  Peace of mind, improved health, happier relationships.  I could go on.

Again though, what about the dangerous stuff?  It’s true that some situations are pretty scary.  Prayer can help to dissolve fear – fear which gets in the way of making safe and practical decisions.  The Apostle John said that perfect love casts out fear (see I John 1:18).  Prayerfully connecting with perfect love, another name for God, helps to clear the fog.  And here’s another amazing side effect: once the fear is gone, the situation often resolves itself.

Mary Baker Eddy put it this way, “Love is the liberator (see Science and Health page 225).”  Pretty straight forward, pretty simple, no caveats.

So, if I can get loving liberation as a result of prayer, why would I choose anything else?  Why would anyone?

Melissa Hayden is a Christian Science practitioner in Salem, OR. You can find more information and additional articles at this link.  If you like what you’re reading, click the “add me” button.

A universal solution

Resolve, dissolve, absolve.  Each comes from the same original Latin word which means to release or unbind.  Doesn’t that sound like the action of divine Love?  Author Mary Baker Eddy says that Love, God, meets every human need.  Always.  (see Science and Health page 494)  That makes Love a universal solution.

The Bible agrees.  In the book of I John, it says that perfect Love casts out fear (see 4:18).

Understanding and obeying the precepts behind this Bible verse, brings permanent release from fear, pain, and lack.  It unbinds the fetters of any limitation.  It resolves, dissolves, absolves.

Melissa Hayden is a Christian Science practitioner in Salem, OR. You can find more information and additional articles at this link.  If you like what you’re reading, click the “add me” button.