Editorial February 10, 1917 Issue

Giving and Receiving

Annie M. Knott

Throughout the Scriptures much is said about the divine bestowals, so much indeed that we might naturally look all about us to see humanity in possession of every good thing. Since, however, the very opposite seems to be the case, and since we as professing Christians cannot deny that God gives all good, the question becomes one of receptivity on our part. Here it must be admitted that only through spiritual sense can we perceive or appropriate the good so freely offered us, for what promise could be plainer than this: "No good thing will he [God] withhold from them that walk uprightly"? In Christian Science it is impossible to doubt that God is ready to "bestow all good, since He is unchanging wisdom and Love," as Mrs. Eddy tells us on page 2 of Science and Health. In view of this assurance it rests with us to discover wherein we fail to receive the good we desire and need.

At this hour no thoughtful man or woman would deny that the world's greatest need is peace, whether this be taken individually or collectively. Here it is well to remember that when the clouds were heaviest and darkest, when the clouds were pressing hard upon him, led on by a traitor in his own ranks, Christ Jesus undoubtedly gained his highest realization of peace. It was then that he could offer to his followers—to all the world in fact, if they would only accept it—the richest, rarest bequest which could come from Love's idea and manifestation. He said, "My peace I give unto you." Let us here pause a moment and lay the emphasis upon the "my" and "you" in order to see that no other kind of peace than the Master's peace is of any avail. This is made clear in the words which immediately follow: "Not as the world giveth, give I unto you;" and then came this added assurance, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

It is quite possible that most of us have greatly desired "my peace," that is, our own limited mortal concept of peace, whether the questions involved related to our personal affairs, to church problems, or to the great world issues which can only be rightly dealt with by the Christ-love and Christ-wisdom. For this reason we need to probe deeply our own thought, in order to learn whether we really desire what our Master offered when he said, "My peace I give unto you." If we desire this above all else we shall have it, and each day will bring it in fuller measure, but it will not be what our Leader characterizes as "a false, convenient peace" (Miscellany, p. 211); it will mean the sure triumph of good over evil, of the spiritual over the material, wrought out in the human consciousness of each one who claims to be a follower of Christ.

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