Article November 16, 1918 Issue

"Self-renunciation"

EVE T. SANFORD

On page 185 of "Miscellaneous Writings" Mrs. Eddy says: "Self-renunciation of all that constitutes a so-called material man, and the acknowledgment and achievement of his spiritual identity as the child of God, is Science that opens the very flood-gates of heaven; whence good flows into every avenue of being, cleansing mortals of all uncleanness, destroying all suffering, and demonstrating the true image and likeness."

From our first reading of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" we may have made the acknowledgment, to ourselves at least, that material man is not the real man; but the achievement of this spiritual identity requires much work and striving on the part of the student, and often is put off until a more convenient season. Many are the subtle, sensual errors which assail us, and often the thought comes to "suffer it to be so now." We may often be conscious that we are not measuring up to our ideal, not bringing out in our daily life the purity, joy, and peace which we know belong to the earnest Christian Scientist; we may be hungering for a fuller realization of God's power and presence, yet there is an almost unconscious resistance to the absolute Christ-life, and this failure to renounce "all that constitutes a so-called material man" causes dissatisfaction with ourselves.

In her Message to The Mother Church for 1902 (p. 17) our Leader says, "Conscious worth satisfies the hungry heart, and nothing else can." We may delude ourselves for a time with the false belief that because those whom we hold most dear are not Christian Scientists, or because of other circumstances, our spiritual progress is delayed, but sooner or later we clearly see that no foe outside of our own consciousness can hinder our progress. We can rest in the absolute knowledge of God's allness and power wherever we are placed, with whomsoever we are living, or whatever may be our work. A poet has beautifully expressed this confidence in God in these words:—

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