Article September 14, 1935 Issue

Sincerity and Success

NORA RENOUF

In all the affairs of life, sincerity is generally regarded as essential to the fruition of any undertaking, and this quality is no less indispensable if we are to gain the true knowledge of God and man. Indeed, if we turn to the Bible, it will be found throughout that a condition of success in this direction is a genuine sincerity. For instance, in the Old Testament, in the fourteenth verse of the twenty-fourth chapter of Joshua, we are told, "Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord." And in the third chapter of I Kings we have Solomon's declaration of the great mercy showed to his father, David, because he had served God in sincerity. Further, it is made clear in the New Testament that sincerity characterized the life of our great Way-shower, Christ Jesus.

The trouble is that mankind in general has not sufficiently understood how to serve God; but there are today many indications that those who are beset with endless phases of discord are sincerely reaching out for this understanding. It is precisely here that Christian Science is meeting this inherent desire by clarifying, and making practical, the Bible teachings, Furthermore, in her other prose works as in Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy gives messages which bring much comfort and encouragement to those who are striving to find the Christ-way out of their problems, and yet whose progress may seem slow. She writes in her Message to The Mother Church for 1900 (p. 9), "Sincerity is more successful than genius or talent;" and she tells us also on page 203 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" that "a deep sincerity is sure of success, for God takes care of it."

These two true, inspiring statements have been proved over and over again. When Christian Science came into the experience of one individual, it found her steeped in materiality. She had been trained to regard matter as real, and when she first read the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, it was not only seemingly incomprehensible, but in direct opposition to all that she then firmly believed to be true. However, she knew that if Christian Science was Science, it could be proved when understood, and that until something of it was understood, it was not a scientific attitude to say that its teaching was not the truth. An earnest study of Science and Health was therefore begun and persisted in for many months, until one day her thought was so illumined that she saw in some degree the allness of Mind, God, and the nothingness of matter.

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