Article October 25, 1924 Issue

God the Rewarder

ANNA E. HERZOG

One of the greatest causes of disappointment and resentment among mortals is the experience all have of meeting ingratitude, or at least perfunctory or slight gratitude, where there seemed every reason to expect the profoundest appreciation and thankfulness. The writer of Hebrews says, "He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." On page 212 of "Miscellaneous Writings" Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes, "Love, the white Christ, is the remunerator." In those citations lies the remedy for the state of thinking which counts on gratitude and reward from mortals for well-done work and feels disappointment, discouragement, hurt pride, and self-pity at their nonappearance.

Christian Science teaches, as does the Bible, that all good is from God, the one cause, the one Life, Truth, and Love. Man, then, can only reflect that good, his thoughts always expressing divine Love to others. Since God is our Father-Mother, it is really God we must please, not mortals. Men must learn to reflect the universal and impartial love of God, just because it is always man's business to reflect God, who is divine Love. When one has learned so to reflect Love, whether he be surrounded by seemingly hateful, antagonistic thought or by the most receptive and kindly will not greatly concern him. Then his love for good, for the real man,—but never for evil or its manifestations,—will be secure and undisturbed.

Consciousness of such love does away with looking to mortals for appreciation and reward. It does not tender service to obtain a mortal's approval, but to help all mortals toward their eventual redemption from mortality. Such understanding of service, or Love expressed, saves from the suffering of personal sense caused by the seemingly inexplicable disappointments of human experience. Knowing that divine Love alone is the remunerator, we look for actual remuneration nowhere else.

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