Tuesday, May 31, 2016

You will always feel safe in the kingdom of heaven


by Anthony Whitehouse CS


It struck me today that there was an issue with regard to feeling safe which I had not understood. It is not really about fear; it is about feeling safe. And the reason it is important is because we cannot be fearful if we feel safe. And we do not understand divine Love unless we feel safe.

It is more important to feel safe than to conquer fear because we will not fear if we are safe. The Hebrew captives survived the burning fiery furnace because they understood the spiritual parameter of being safe. Mrs. Eddy repeats this idea when she writes:
 
Understanding the control which Love held over all, Daniel felt safe in the lions' den, and Paul proved the viper to be harmless.

The word also has the implication of “health “ according to Webster’s 1828 Edition :

Safe
SAFE, a. [L. salvus, from salus, safety, health.]
1. Free from danger of any kind; as safe from enemies; safe from disease; safe from storms; safe from the malice of foes.
2. Free from hurt, injury or damage; as, to walk safe over red hot plowshares. We brought the goods safe to land.
3. Conferring safety; securing from harm; as a safe guide; a safe harbor; a safe bridge.
4. Not exposing to danger. Phil 3.
5. No longer dangerous; placed beyond the power of doing harm; a ludicrous meaning.
In other words we will not be healthy unless we feel safe.

It also requires vigilance to realize that unless we feel a profound sense of how safe we are in Divine Science then we are going to suffer from all the stresses of human existence. Without a sense of feeling safe we will be open to attack.

It is my experience that human circumstances are very good at getting us to feel unsafe. A sure sign of feeling unsafe is not knowing what to do in a particular situation. If we do not know what to do, we are going to feel unsafe. The problem however is not feeling impotent or the human circumstance. It is feeling unsafe: this is an illegitimate sentiment in the kingdom of heaven. In the Kingdom of heaven there is a sense of total security.

Christian Science leads us into the land of absolute understanding where our sense of conviction about God’s nature and power is so profound that we feel totally safe. We can indeed “smile on all our foes” in the fortress of His understanding.