"According to the rules"

"'He played the game according to the rules.' If that can be said of me, I shall be satisfied," declared a man of unquestioned integrity in both business and personal relations. His remark led the listener to ponder both the simplicity and substantiality of ambition such as this and the deeper implications of the metaphor.

Considering what it means to play the game "according to the rules," we naturally think of the field of sports. For such activities there are always strict rules, which must be enforced and obeyed in order to secure not only justice and good sportsmanship, but also the fullest possible enjoyment of the game. The score cards of a public golf course at one time carried the line, "The game ceases to be golf when the rules are broken at pleasure." In this way even beginners were taught the importance of respect for the necessary rules. In important competitive events, athletes who "break training" or indulge in foul play are severely disciplined. Thus high standards are maintained, and participants win respect not only for their prowess, but also for their fairness and obedience to rightful discipline.

What of rules for daily living? What are they, and how can they be interpreted and obeyed in the way that will give the most satisfactory results?

Thousands of years ago Moses, a man "slow of speech." was inspired of God to lead a multitude of people out of slavery, away from familiar surroundings and recognized government, through the wilderness, toward the promised land, wherein they should eventually establish their own government. While in the wilderness with this great number of people, Moses turned to God alone for guidance and wisdom through which to bring them out of the seeming chaos. As a result of prayer and earnest communion, God's law was revealed to Moses in those rules which have since been called the Ten Commandments. This unparalleled code, so often misinterpreted and disobeyed, still remains to guide all who earnestly seek to learn its meaning and apply it to their thoughts and acts.

Centuries after Moses was inspired to record the Ten Commandments, Christ Jesus came to demonstrate his obedience to the law of God, with wonderful results in the healing and reformation of those who would listen to him. When asked, "Which is the first commandment of all?" he unhesitatingly replied, "The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength," and added, "And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Certain it is that no one who loves God supremely and his neighbor as himself will ever steal, covet, commit adultery, or break any other of the Commandments.

Here one may say, "I usually can keep the Commandments in their literal meanings, but I am beginning to see that they have deeper interpretations; and sometimes conditions in human experience seem to force me to have other gods, to break the Sabbath, or to disobey other Commandments." This is what Paul meant when he wrote, "The good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do."

In our own time, a New England woman, descendant of those to whom worship of God meant more than home and comfort, has given to the world the clearer concept of God and of man's real, spiritual nature, which makes plain how Jesus was able to follow God's law so perfectly. Through the study of Christian Science, as discovered by Mary Baker Eddy, we may begin more intelligently to obey the Ten Commandments and play the game "according to the rules."

In the first sentence of "the scientific statement of being" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 468 ), "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter," Mrs. Eddy lays bare the unreality of that belief in matter which causes all the infractions of divine law. It is this belief in matter, with its supposed laws, limitations, and hungers, which turns mortals to "graven images" instead of to divine Love for satisfaction, and which brings about all the dishonesty, hatred, impurity, murder, war, and woe in the world.

But "the scientific statement of being" does not stop with declaring the nothingness of matter. It goes on to state, "All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all," thus giving a firm basis from which to demonstrate obedience to the law of God. It is only through the realization and demonstration of the fact given in the last sentence of this statement, "Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual," that divine law can be obeyed. The real, spiritual man reflects the one God, one Principle, Mind, Life, Truth, Love. He has no false gods, but finds in Mind his being, expression, satisfaction.

Realizing the perfection of God's creation, we hallow the name of the divine Father-Mother, Love, and keep the Sabbath. We must love our neighbor as ourself, since we realize that the real selfhood of all is not material, but spiritual and perfect. Apprehending the infinity and purity of Spirit and its creation, we can reject any temptation to covet, steal, destroy, or to adulterate good; for in Christian Science we learn to rejoice in the perfection, purity, and affluence of inexhaustible Love. This is living "according to the rules."

Even though, from our present human standpoints, we seem obliged to prove the truth by degrees, we can rejoice in a clearer insight which plainly shows us the rules and the sure method by which we ultimately can demonstrate them fully. All along the way of this joyous demonstration, let us remember the words which the Revelator was spiritually directed to write: "Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it."