Christ Jesus proved that God is the only true source of supply. He knew that in real being false conditions of lack have neither power nor reality. Our Master, who fed the multitudes, said (John 14:10), "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." Does such a statement give us an excuse for laziness in demonstrating supply? Is it a "do nothing" policy? Certainly not. In our human experience there is often much activity and striving needed in order to find, know, and obey God.

Much of our education has taught us to believe that success and supply are the products of the human mind, of will power, and of our own labor. Christian Science teaches us to give up reliance on self and to rely on God's power, to know that this power is ever manifested through man. Thus supply, happiness, health, are free gifts, the reflections of Love, which is God, the only power.

The materialist thinks of supply in terms of matter: money, merchandise, food—all of which are the products of labor. Such supply is not a continuous flow; it is measurable within quantitative limits. It might be said to be packaged and timed. A familiar example is the pay check.

We learn in Christian Science, however, that supply is a continuous flow, not of matter, but of ideas motivated by God's love and freely given us. In her book "Miscellaneous Writings" Mary Baker Eddy states (p. 307), "God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies." We receive this flow of ideas in the measure of our understanding of true substance and our willingness to receive the truth. Thus supply is not limited by seasons, business cycles, calamities, or persons. The Apostle James said (1:17), "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

The student of Christian Science knows that God's supply to man is completely spiritual, that this supply evidences God's love and power, which are reflected by man. Our responsibility and work is to gain an understanding of man as the reflection of Love and to demonstrate true being. In reality there can be no obstacle to the reflection of Love, but the acceptance of hatred or fear in human consciousness may seem temporarily to effect a stoppage of the flow of ideas to individual thought. To rid oneself of such obstructions is needed work and takes place in one's own thinking.

One temptation is to reason that supply must come through persons or human organizations, or through a particular material source, such as the pay check or accounts receivable. To outline materially how supply is to appear is to attempt to advise God.

A student of Christian Science had a helpful experience in this connection. At a time when she needed to meet a debt, she determined to call on a friend whom she felt would be glad to lend her the necessary money. However, on the way to see her friend she realized that God was her only supply and that if she depended on an individual she would not be looking to God or acknowledging His goodness. She continued on her way, made a visit, but made no mention of her need. She slept that night, confidently putting her trust in God.

The first mail in the morning brought a letter and check from the very friend she had visited the night before. Her friend wrote that after the student's departure on the previous evening she felt impelled to write the letter and enclose the check. She said she felt God's direction.

The continuous flow of true life and love from God is supply. Diminution, "slowdowns," inactivity, stoppages, are signs of the seeming activity of evil which, if accepted as real, would tend to prevent the demonstration of supply in human affairs and would point to seeming dearth in business as well as in human life. When fear arises because of poor business, whatever the cause, we can realize that true business is a spiritual idea, an expression of God which cannot be impaired, weakened, made spasmodic, or destroyed.

One who is a slave to a material sense of business has little basis for either health or happiness. The student of Christian Science must see that his true work is expressing God's power, intelligence, and love. He then finds that his outward activity in his business will manifest progressive success, in spite of obstacles. Paul states (Rom. 8:38, 39), "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Man, reflecting God, is never separated from his source of supply.