"With all your heart"

THROUGH the prophet Jeremiah, the word of God comes to us with the loving assurance, "Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." When we have taken up the study of Christian Science, which is only another way of saying when we have intelligently commenced the quest after God, there are urgent reasons why we should keep this promise always before us, remembering that for our search to be successful it must be pursued wholeheartedly. As our labors begin to be rewarded with a growing knowledge of Truth, or God, we become the possessors of something for which every man yearns, however unconsciously, and some who are ready to be similarly blessed will turn to those who know the truth; therefore our thinking should be so clear that what we know we shall be able to share with the hungry ones who come to us for it. God's favors are also responsibilities, and He never gives us anything for selfish hoarding. We must give; getting is only half of our obligation.

Again, early in our study, we begin to recognize upon what false and uncertain bases rest those material means of healing in which most of the world places its hope. As we perceive that the seeming cures effected by such systems result not from any intelligence or virtue in drug or manipulation but from the ever shifting human belief in their efficacy, we lose our faith in such means and they cease to be helpful to us. Then it is necessary that we quickly replace this lost trust with that knowledge of God's love and law which is truly able to protect and heal. As we do this we may face with increasing joy and assurance any physical or other claim of error which may present itself, knowing that reliance on Principle gives us the sure victory, and that the command to work out our own salvation is not given us without the ability to obey it. Although placing full reliance upon those glorious promises of deliverance with which the Bible is filled. we should go on to forestall evil, to obtain the peace and protection which are the result of our abiding in Truth, in the consciousness of the ever presence and tender care of God. We must know something of Truth before we can abide in it, and we must perceive something of the nothingness of those false belifs of good and power apart from God which otherwise may frighten or entice us. Let us, therefore, never look upon Christian Science as an interesting novelty to be dabbled in, since it holds for us the issues of life and death, and deals with the subject of first importance to mankind, namely, God. While we can always seek His presence with gladness, we should also approach Him with earnest reverence.

On page 22 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy gives us this admonition: "'Work out your own salvation,' is the demand of Life and Love, for to this end God worketh with you. 'Occupy till I come!' Wait for your reward, and 'be not weary in well doing.' " As we thus diligently search after Him, the perception grows that not only is God, divine Principle, the source of good, but He is the only source of good; that His plan for each of us is not only happiness, but the greatest possible happiness. We begin to see that matter is not partially good and partially bad, and the fruits of the Spirit only sometimes joyous, but that whatever real and enduring joy comes to us is always traceable to spiritual law, while every material belief holds within itself the seeds of inevitable pain and destruction. When we come to see these things and act upon them, we know from the results we obtain that the promise is true and we have found "Him whom to know aright is Life eternal," to use Mrs. Eddy's words on page vii of the Preface to Science and Health, where she says: "Ignorance of God is no longer the stepping-stone to faith. The only guarantee of obedience is a right apprehension of Him whom to know aright is Life eternal."