Article November 18, 1933 Issue

Sacrifice and Offering

ANNE CLEVELAND CHENEY

Much is being said about sacrifice these days, some of it in not too cheerful a tone; a sigh, even a groan, is heard at times when people speak of making sacrifices. But there is a meaning included in the word "sacrifice" too often overlooked. It means also an offering, a surrender, or giving up of something for the sake of something else. That something else makes all the difference! If we are giving up something for the sake of that which is good, or sacred, or in some way precious, then sacrifice becomes a joyous offering, an exchange, an expression of thanksgiving. The moment we blend our thought of sacrifice with the sense of offering we give and gain a blessing.

The Psalmist writes, "Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord." To sacrifice unrighteous thoughts, selfish aims, fears, doubts, the constricting qualities of material thinking, in order to put our trust in divine Principle and the limitless possibilities of spiritual-mindedness is the only sacrifice Christian Science demands of us; and we find it always means to surrender that which is worthless for the sake of attaining something of value, that which will enable us to offer to God the service of right-mindedness and pure, selfless endeavor.

How active small boys are at times trading something they have finished with for something they think they would like to possess! And grown-ups are usually busy doing the same thing. The Christian Scientist knows that he must aim to have done with material-mindedness, and all it involves, in order to gain the priceless treasures of real, lasting ideas, which constitute man's true heritage. Our dear Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, has shown us the way to do this. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she says (p. 269), "Metaphysics resolves things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul." Thus in Christian Science we see sacrifice as an act of exchanging, surrendering, the untrue for the true. Our thoughts concerning our service, our time, our money, are transmuted with thanksgiving into contemplating of the realities of Spirit; we are offering the sacrifices of righteousness, and putting our trust in the Lord, in Mind, not matter.

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