Article January 1, 1916 ISSUE

True Service

EDITH GOODRICH BLOOD

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE is unlocking the treasures of the Bible, so that it is becoming more widely and intelligently understood. Even the merest beginner is continually surprised at the wealth of wonderful truths laid bare before him as day by day he learns and proves that he can turn to its pages for the solution of his every-day problems, be they ever so simple or ever so difficult. And as the spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures dawns upon him, he clearly perceives that humanity's longings will all be met when it is learned that we serve God truly by individually learning to think as did our great Exemplar.

To illustrate, let us see just how comprehensive was Paul's admonition to the Galatians when he said, "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." Scientifically interpreted, this injunction at once enlarges man's sphere of usefulness by opening up a vast field for right activity daily,—nay, hourly,—a field open to each man and woman. Generally speaking, however, to serve another or to bear another's burden means to exert one's self continuously or statedly for the benefit of another. It has reference in most instances to physical acts, labors, or material gifts. The fact that service can be purely metaphysical and so universally beneficial, blessing each and all at the same time, is not generally considered of very great consequence, if it is even accepted. Consequently if one accepts the material construction usually given to this passage, he can but find his field of service very limited, and each day altogether too short to number many helpful services rendered beyond the tasks he must perform for his individual or family needs.

Christian Science emphasizes the higher interpretation of service, and so removes this whole discouraging sense of limitation by teaching that acts, labours, or gifts are of secondary, not primary, importance in our ministry to others, though these will necessarily follow loving, helpful, and intelligent thinking. Indeed Christian Science teaches and proves that thoughts are things, that the metaphysical supersedes the physical at all times, and that each of us can serve his neighbor most by refusing to think any but Christlike thoughts. When one learns to "stand porter at the door of thought" (Science and Health, p. 392 ) and allow nothing to enter his own consciousness that defileth the godlike man, he will be applying the law of Christ to all that he sees and does; and he will be a benefactor indeed, for he will bless all upon whom his thoughts may rest.

When a sense of lack or limitation presents itself, one should turn his thought instantly away from the testimony of the senses and know that God, infinite substance, infinite good, the All-in-all, has never for an instant limited or stinted His own idea, man, but rather has bestowed upon man continually more than he knows how to accept, since God is infinite wisdom and love. Mortal testimony can be surmounted individually by each, as he refuses to admit its reality through a constant and earnest endeavor to come into at-one-ment with divine Truth.

Again, if he sees or hears about disease in any phase whatever, let him with unflinching, unwavering, and calm reliance on God replace these mortal pictures of inharmony with the truth of man's inheritance. Since God is the one and only creator and made all that is made in His own image and likeness, any disease manifestations whatever are not real, and can be wiped out of consciousness and be denied and denounced just as the student rejects a result in mathematics obtained by applying a fictitious law or rule. He has only to go back to the true basis, work out the right result, and thus clearly prove the discord unreal.

So, too, when from any source whatever there come thoughts of unrest, dissatisfaction, fear, foreboding, or the like, let us trample upon these mental thistles just as carefully as we would upon a manifestation of physical discord. Let us turn our thought Godward and assert man's birthright,—the ability to see, hear, feel, and think only good. As Mrs. Eddy says in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 210 ): "Keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them."

This is the way to fulfil the law of Christ daily and hourly, even as our great Teacher taught. When Christ Jesus looked upon his fellow man he did not see him as sick, poor, maimed, or burdened, but looked beyond and above the human testimony and saw the godlike man; he turned from every material evidence of inharmony and discord and saw the perfect universe and the perfect man,—saw beauty, harmony, and plenty as omnipresent and eternal. The refusal to see or admit the evil as real destroyed it. This is what Christian Science is teaching men to do today,—to reject all that is unlike God.

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