Article May 17, 1930 Issue

"Behold, to-day hath need of thee"

FRANCES LESLIE HARRIS

To Jesus the glory of human life was in overcoming sin, sickness, and death, whenever and wherever they presented themselves. He recognized the supremacy of Spirit and the perfection of man and the universe. He never suggested that at some future time he might successfully cope with error and prove God's allness; nor did he intimate that healing might have been possible had he been called in sooner. When the centurion besought him on behalf of his servant, the Master at once said, "I will come and heal him;" and when Mary met Jesus and said, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died," he immediately went to the tomb and proved the unreality of time and of material law by calling Lazarus forth alive and well. He overcame, promptly and completely, the false beliefs of limitation, sin, disease, and death.

As followers of Christ Jesus we too must prove the supremacy of good over evil. Recognizing this necessity, Mrs. Eddy, our revered Leader, has given us the Lesson-Sermons in the Christian Science Quarterly, the "Daily Prayer" (Manual, Art. VIII, Sect. 4), and the means of doing our daily protective work, which, if conscientiously followed, fit us for the glorious warfare and enable us to win the victory. Yet, how many of us fail to take full advantage of this needful preparation! Consequently, how prone we are to put off until some future time the solution of our problems! When illness tempts us, instead of at once realizing man's perfection as the idea of God, and thus effecting a healing, do we not often listen to the suggestions of mortal mind that we sleep it off or let it wear off? And when anger, resentment, and self-pity clamor for place in our consciousness, do we not sometimes nurture instead of instantly rejecting them?

Such delay shows an unreadiness to work for God; and this disobedience, whether engendered by procrastination, lack of perseverance, or distrust of our ability, cannot go unrebuked. We cannot prove the unreality of sickness by merely trying to forget it; nor can we conquer unlovely qualities of thought by brooding over them. We must deny and reject every suggestion of error; for only in this way can we demonstrate perfect, sinless man, the likeness of his Maker. Only in this way can we gain the reward promised to the faithful.

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