Article August 14, 1937 Issue

The Way of Progress

JESSIE LOUISE SALLS

Humility does not mean that one shall pursue indefinitely a task in a spirit of resignation.

Moses was tending his father-in-law's sheep when he heard God's voice speaking to him out of the burning bush. His first thought upon learning what God demanded of him was one of reluctance, for he distrusted his own ability to accomplish the task. Many mortal arguments presented themselves to him. He was humble, indeed, in his modest self-esteem, but true heights of humility were attained when he thrust aside the thought of self, trusted God with his future, and obeyed the divine command that he should lead his own people, the children of Israel, out of their slavery to the Egyptians. Moses was acquainted with the work of sheep-tending. He probably enjoyed the solitary places and the inspiration of sunny days and of the starry sky at evening. The position of leadership, however, was new to him. The course he must take was novel and strange. But after he had been shown of God, he knew that such was to be his task, and that God would be with him, guiding him every step of the way.

Many times we yield to a lethargy which must be broken if we are to progress spiritually. We must abandon the sentimental clinging to places and circumstances that have become familiar. We must be willing to leave behind, if necessary, those we have learned to love as companions and fellow workers, in order to take up some new work to which God has led us. It is in humility, in willingness to be led by divine Mind, that the consecrated student of Christian Science ventures away from reliance on personal support and enters upon new and sometimes unsought paths in his human progress, because God has shown him the right thing to do, and he knows that all good is at hand under divine direction.

In her volume entitled "Miscellaneous Writings," on page 355, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, makes plain the necessary stages in spiritual progress. She mentions "self-knowledge" as the first stage of growth, and then she says (p. 356): "The second stage of mental development is humility. This virtue triumphs over the flesh; it is the genius of Christian Science. One can never go up, until one has gone down in his own esteem. Humility is lens and prism to the understanding of Mind-healing; it must be had to understand our textbook; it is indispensable to personal growth, and points out the chart of its divine Principle and rule of practice."

When his disciples asked Jesus who was greatest in the kingdom of heaven he called a little child to him and said to them, "Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."

Children encounter difficulties when allowed too much freedom in planning their own actions. They are happy when they feel sure of the wise and loving protection and guidance of parents or guardians. And happiness accompanies the humility which leads men to turn continually to God for inspiration, protection, and guidance, realizing that real liberty lies in God-given freedom from mortal beliefs of sin, sickness, and death. In Christian Science we learn that the only freedom mankind can ever experience from these burdens of the flesh must come as a result of increasing spirituality, increasing Godlikeness.

To those who are struggling to rise out of some mental bog into which they have fallen through ignorance of God, it often seems that the way out and up is difficult. But the way grows easier when one listens for the voice of God and obeys it rejoicingly.

Our awakening from the lethargy into which we sometimes lapse, when we are enjoying the peace of solitude, the loveliness of our surroundings, the freedom from physical pain, may mean some new demand to go forward. If so, we may know in humility that we shall not have to take any step alone. We are not blind egotists—instruments of human will—but in reality children of God, whose infinite wisdom shows us how to take every step of the way out of human bondage, even as it showed Moses and the children of Israel the way out of the bondage of Egypt.

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Man's Spiritual Habitation
August 14, 1937
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