Editorial December 17, 1910 Issue

THE "FINISHER OF OUR FAITH."

Annie M. Knott

One of the most important things in any undertaking is the persistence necessary to carry it to its completion. It is well known among men of affairs that in every enterprise unexpected difficulties arise, involving unlooked-for delays and expenditures, and these conditions evidently prevailed in Jesus' time, for we find him saying to some who were eager to become his followers: "Which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost. ... Lest haply, after he had laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him." This illustration was followed by these significant words, "So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." This teaching relates itself very naturally with the requirement that we "work out" our own salvation, and its accompanying assurance, "For it is God which worketh in [us] both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

Those who seek physical healing in Christian Science, soon find that it has much more than this to give them, that it really offers the key to the solution of each one's life-problem, and begins by showing what that problem really is, —that it is not the acquisition of wealth or learning, or even of health and happiness, but the knowing of God and one's self. It is true that the gaining of good health by spiritual means is part of the process, and the efforts required to this end result in great clarity of thought and moral and spiritual unfoldment. It however happens that in some cases the desired results come very slowly, as in the case of a backward spring, and then there may be needed "great searchings of heart." The temptation in some cases is to blame every one and every thing but one's own lack of receptivity, and thus many opportunities to work out the problem are missed.

The one thing which above all else we need to be sure about is the entire reliability of the promise, "He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:" and the closely related statement that Christ, the divine idea, is "the author and finisher of our faith." It is almost certain that in many cases it is the element of doubt as to the final result which operates like the supposed influence of a miasma, and which, so long as it is undetected, retards the healing. We need to be sure that, as Jesus said, it is our Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom (including health and strength); that He cares for us, and that nothing can interfere with the divine purpose to complete our salvation. A poor fellow was once lifted out of a life of degradation by a young girl's assurance that God cared for him. He said, "Oh, if He's trying to make something out of me, I'll be a man, I'll take whatever He sends. I never thought He cared."

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