Article August 19, 1905 Issue

"Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven"

DORA M. KNAPP.

Christians expect to be well and happy in heaven, for they believe it is God's will that they should. It is also generally believed that God has provided blessings untold in this spiritual abode for those who love Him, all according to His will; and yet how many there are, who thus pray and believe, and who yet accept any adversity or disease that may come upon them as being God's will! Many also believe that any resistance or lack of resignation to affliction would forfeit their admission to the kingdom of heaven, where, according to God's will, their woes will cease. Is this consistent? Is it not in direct contradiction to the petition, "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven"?

If it is God's will that His children shall be well, happy, and partakers of divine blessings in heaven, does not the Lord's Prayer ask for the realization of the same conditions here? Would our Master have given a prayer to be used by all who believe in Christ, Truth, which contains any impossible or contradictory requests? Could God, "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever," have one will here, and another in heaven? Is not heaven the state of consciousness in which God is made manifest as All in all, and in which everything and every one manifests the eternal glory, harmony, peace, happiness of infinite Love, and where no sense of sickness, fear, sorrow, sin, or anything that maketh or worketh a lie can enter? The petition really means, then, that every good thought and thing which one could desire or expect to receive according to God's will in heaven, should be desired, expected, and received here.

Christian Science teaches us how to know God's will, and that this divine will is universal, impartial, infinitely kind, loving, satisfying, and unfailing in its bestowal of good to man. It teaches us that as the false, material concept of God and man is removed, and the spiritual understanding of the first commandment is actually demonstrated in our lives, we can and do daily receive the blessings and the impress of the divine will here and now. Each victory over sickness and sin is proof that Christian Science reveals the way of salvation from all error, and that an error which is spiritually overcome here, is overcome for all eternity, and we can truly say, with thankful hearts, God's will is done in earth, as it is in heaven.

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