Article April 25, 1942 Issue

Putting First Things First

CHARLOTTE RUTH DECKER

In a sermon called "Christian Healing" Mary Baker Eddy has said (p. 19), "Tireless Being, patient of man's procrastination, affords him fresh opportunities every hour; but if Science makes a more spiritual demand, bidding man go up higher, he is impatient perhaps, or doubts the feasibility of the demand."

The demand is now being made by Science. In the exigencies of the times it asks a complete and permanent turning to God, a need which could not be more imperative than it is. Yet with stubborn determination the human mind seeks safety and happiness in matter rather than in Spirit. This blindness of mortals to the outstretched arms of divine Love is the result of belief in the reality of matter and its false pleasures.

Self-righteousness may impel one to ask, "Why do some who are not living a good life have so much more ease and money than I who am doing my best to live rightly?" Are we doing our best? Are we working to learn more about God and man in His image, or are we expecting our efforts to bring merely material benefits? In other words, are we putting first things first? Theoretically we admit that according to the teachings of Christian Science there is only one task for all, one work to be done, and that is to learn what God is, what man is, and what is our true relation to Him. Our only real business is reflecting God, knowing the truth about man and the universe.

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