Article June 5, 1937 Issue

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God"

MARGARET Y. LULL

Shortly after beginning his three years' service as a teacher and leader among men, Jesus preached a sermon which is so complete in its expression of Truth that Mrs. Eddy has said of it in her Message to The Mother Church for 1901 (p. 11), "To my sense the Sermon on the Mount, read each Sunday without comment and obeyed throughout the week, would be enough for Christian practice." In this talk to his disciples and the multitude which followed him up the mountain slopes above Capernaum, Jesus gave a profound rule for supplying all human needs: "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? ... But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

That is a simple rule, but one which mankind seems to find difficult to obey. When human problems press for solution, and lack of supply or discordant home and business conditions present ugly claims to reality, we are sometimes tempted to wonder how Jesus' injunction can be carried out. By taking no thought for the practical details of everyday life, should we not be evading our responsibilities and failing to take proper care of what concerns us? Surely, we think, those words of our Master must have been meant only for his disciples in that far-off land, and do not apply to us in this age of complicated living!

The answer of Christian Science is that, by seeking "first the kingdom of God," one beset with human cares and anxieties is taking steps to demonstrate supply in the only way which can possibly be effective. God is ever-present Mind, and man, His reflection, has an inexhaustible heritage of right ideas. This understanding will correct and destroy every wrong belief about health, situation, or supply. By replacing sick, sinful, or unhappy beliefs about ourselves and our fellow beings with the truth that man, made in God's image, is well, pure, and joyous, we shall find these true conditions manifested. Jesus, who found tax money in the fish's mouth, who commended his mother to the care of John and provided food for his disciples on the shores of the Galilean sea, neglected no human obligation. He knew the truth, and his understanding healed lack and broken human relationships.

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