Article July 1, 1911 Issue

DOERS, NOT HEARERS ONLY

WILLIAM BEARD.

We sometimes hear it said, or even think it ourselves, "I read the Lesson every day, I go to church at least once on Sunday, I attend the meeting every Wednesday evening, and all the lectures which are provided for us; I subscribe for and read all the literature and periodicals which are issued by our Publishing Society, I give liberally to the church; in fact, I do all the things which are required of Christian Scientists, and yet I seem to be poor in this world's goods and possessions; while others around me who are doing much less than I am, are healthy, happy, and living in affluence." When we hear these things, or when our own consciousness is disturbed by such thoughts, do we stop to ask ourselves the questions, "Am I both hearing and doing the word? Am I not like the man who built his house on the sand, and when the rain came and the flood descended, it fell, and great was the fall of it? Am I imbibing the spirit as well as the letter of the law? Am I like the proud Pharisee, or like the lowly publican who smiting himself on the breast, cried, 'God be merciful to me a sinner'?"

We are told that we should let the same Mind be in us as was in Christ Jesus. Did our great Exemplar go about with a long face and complain that he was not blessed as other men, that God looked after others in a more generous way than He did for him? In other words, did he acknowledge more than one God? No, he knew that there was one God only, the Father of all, the infinite source of all good; that from Him came "every good gift and every perfect gift;" that He was unchangeable and eternal. He recognized one God only, and man in His image and likeness, God's perfect man, and he thereby healed the sick, lifted up the fallen, gave sight to the blind, opened the deaf ears, and raised the dead. He not only did these things, but he commanded us to do them also, and gave us the precious promise, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father."

How many of us ever stop to think, in all the efforts which we put forth, whether we are simply hearers and not doers of the word? Are we healing the sick, raising up those who fall, leading out of the darkness of materialism into the light of God's own day those who are blind to His word, and pointing out to those who have not heard of His precious promises the way of life, and by our living shown to them the truth that frees from the slavery of sin and death? or are we sitting idly by and seeking after worldly pleasures and material substance, thinking that if we are careful to observe the letter of the law, God will prosper and bless and take care of us, that we shall "be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease"? If we are doing the former, we are not only hearers but doers of the word, and are building on the rock of Truth, against which naught can prevail; if the latter, we are hearers only, we are building on the sand, and our house will fall and great will be the fall of it.

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DOERS, NOT HEARERS ONLY

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