Article June 18, 1938 Issue

"Expecting to receive"

FRANCES R. CORNER

In the third chapter of Acts is recounted the story of a man, lame from birth, who lay daily at the gate of the temple, begging. Seeing Peter and John on their way into the temple, he asked for alms; but Peter, instead of granting his request, commanded him to look at them. This he did, "expecting to receive something of them." Then Peter, through his understanding of the Christ, Truth, healed the man instantaneously, so that he arose and went into the temple with them, "walking, and leaping, and praising God."

The fact that the lame man was expectant of good, no matter how he thought that good was to be manifested, undoubtedly helped to open his consciousness to the healing truth. Christ Jesus has given us authority for expressing joyous expectancy in his words, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." His words are as true today as they were in his time. Expectancy of good is not only desirable in a patient, but is necessary to all successful practice of Christian Science. In order to give effective treatments the practitioner must expect perfect results from his work, and must expect them immediately. This is the way Jesus healed; and as we learn to think more and more as he thought, and know more and more of what he knew, our expectancy of good and the manifestation of that good will more often be simultaneous.

If we sometimes seem to fail in working out a problem through our understanding of the truth, error may suggest when we approach another problem that, since we failed in one instance, we cannot be sure of success in another. It asks, "What right have you to expect good results now, when you did not realize them before?" What right? Why, the right of every Christian Scientist to exercise man's God-given dominion over all the earth! We need to know that error, or evil, being no part of God's creation, is not supported by His law. Hence, any attempt it makes to discourage or render us inactive can be instantly denied and destroyed by the power of Truth. Under God's government one cannot fail in any right undertaking. The only failure there is, is the failure of error to interfere in any way with the harmonious activity of man, the beloved child of God. This understanding enables one to expect a perfect solution to every problem that presents itself.

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