The Apostle James wrote: "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Broadly speaking, yielding to temptation takes two forms: deliberately thinking and doing what is wrong, or failing to translate good resolutions into right actions. Temptation must be resisted in both thought and deed, and "the devil" flees before one who is obedient to divine Principle. Steadfast vigilance, braced by diligent practice, is surely blessed.

The injunction, "Cease to do evil; learn to do well." calls for our obedience in big and little ways. The tendency to get up late, for instance, in spite of a professed intention to rise early and greet the new day with eager study, new inspiration, fresh resolves, spiritual heights of communion with the one Mind, will not beguile us, provided we denounce this tendency in thought and renounce it in action. Weak acquiescence in the line of least resistance flees before vigorous obedience to spiritual demands. Purposeful energy characterizes true consciousness.

Mrs. Eddy writes in "Retrospection and Introspection" (p. 86): "There is but one way of doing good, and that is to do it! There is but one way of being good, and that is to be good!" Being and doing good are synonymous, since all that is truly good expresses Mind's unsuspended action. Scientifically, there is but one power, one presence, one influence, one attraction: that of God, good. The consciousness of true being is the only true consciousness. We avoid mental detours and superstitious involvements by knowing that for man, Mind's idea, divergence from divine Principle is an impossibility. The consciousness of man is controlled by divine Principle and all that term includes.

Paul made the rousing statement, "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" When, in all our thoughts, we yield obedience to the facts of spiritual being and the rules of Christian Science, we shall not yield to error through laziness or any other phase of false belief and unbelief.

We conquer fear by reflecting more of the Love which is free from fear, and which frees him who reflects Love. Temptations flee before one who is demonstrating Love's beneficent power. Upheld by the divinely inspired love of good, we can move on undeceived by aggressive temptations, unbetrayed by inertia, undelayed in our demonstration of spiritual dominion and harmony. Spirit, God, is above and beyond all temptation, and the promise stands, "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." One who holds steadfastly to Spirit's standard is upheld by it.

We demonstrate unity with the one Mind by faithfully utilizing the thoughts and ideas of this Mind. Sin, materiality, have no foothold in Mind. When, as true thinkers, we unremittingly and always joyously prove our oneness with Truth and Love, we have proofs of the divine power working in our consciousness and daily experience.

Our Leader writes: "Truth is a two-edged sword, guarding and guiding. Truth places the cherub wisdom at the gate of understanding to note the proper guests" (Science and Health, p. 538). Truth's "guarding and guiding" power exposes and nullifies wrong influences, and inspires right motives and actions. Among the "proper guests" to be entertained at all times is joy. Before this spiritually serene guest despondency, the interloper, flees. Nevertheless, there are times when even one who has for many years proved his fidelity to Christian Science may come under the temptation to hug sorrow and drift into fruitless loneliness. It is essential, then, that this one prove himself tractable, willing to be led in Love's way. Divine Love shows the honest student of Christian Science how to lay aside mental anguish, abandon selfish solitude, conquer indifference, and go among his fellows, lovingly and selflessly proving to them the emancipating power of Christian Science in every situation. In this way divine Love, meeting others' needs, meets one's own. But, if we accept suggestions contrary to our true nature, we temporarily lose sight of heaven—the harmony and peace of God's government. Yet peace, harmony, true government, heaven, are still here for all. Fear, sorrow, faithlessness flee before renewed confidence, fidelity, and joy, of which there is no end. Through obeying Spirit's law of everlasting progress, as fast as we apprehend it, we move forward under Spirit's law of irresistible attraction.

The influence of divine Mind is potent and positive. There is no retrogression nor painful progression for one who relies on Mind's own potency and positiveness, and undeviatingly cherishes them in his consciousness. The only will known to man is the will of God in action. Belief in discord flees before the Christian Scientist's steadfast declaration of the omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniaction of God, supreme over all because good is all that truly exists.

Violet Ker Seymer