THE ACTIVITY THAT BRINGS ABUNDANCE

NEIL MARTIN

When we consider how many today have insufficient nourishment, inadequate lodging, and no great hope of security, we see how necessary it is for the Christian Scientist to demonstrate the abundance of those spiritual ideas and talents which are the source of mankind's subsistence.

Christian Science is based on the great metaphysical fact, found in the Scriptures, of the inseparability of God and His ideas, man and the universe. Such teaching, accepted as a basis for correct thinking, leads to a present perception of the unity and totality of all that truly exists. For as we glimpse ourselves as individual spiritual ideas linked in Science to the source of all ideas—divine Mind—we begin to find ourselves in more harmonious relationships with our fellow men.

Christ Jesus demonstrated with unparalleled completeness the oneness of God and His ideas. He knew that God, the Father, always supplies all good and that mankind, when awake to man's relationship to Him and to all His ideas, can lack nothing essential. Knowing this, Jesus was able to feed the multitude and to help others to demonstrate supply.

Jesus was the Way-shower. Those who would imitate his works must heed his words and imbibe his spirit. When any problem poses itself, the Scientist seeks to follow Jesus' counsel and example. So it was when the writer appeared to be working fruitlessly to reverse a long-entertained belief in inadequate supply. He was led to turn with renewed expectation to the Lord's Prayer. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy says of this prayer (p. 16), "Our Master said, 'After this manner therefore pray ye,' and then he gave that prayer which covers all human needs." Suddenly the writer found new significance in one of the intercessions in that prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread" (Matt. 6:11), and its spiritual interpretation, given in Science and Health (p. 17), "Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections."

Jesus knew well the human need for bread, but he also taught that the Christ, Truth, actively expressed in human consciousness, is the true bread. "I am the bread of life," he said (John 6:35); "he that cometh to me shall never hunger." Mrs. Eddy urges us to actively express the Christly qualities of grace and affection in order to assure our well-being.

From the very moment that these intercessions touched his thought, the writer ceased asking for tomorrow and began little by little to demonstrate supply. He was content to use the ideas which unfolded each day, however little they seemed to be in evidence. He studied and restudied the word "grace" and found that it means graciousness as well as gratitude, favor as well as favored, loving as well as beloved. He glimpsed what is meant by a state of grace. It is a state of conscious well-being, of unspeakable relief from any obligation except to reflect God. Grace comes as a result of accepting expectantly and with childlike earnestness God's already bestowed favors and endowments. He saw that we must be completely willing to share these favors and use these endowments for the glory of their Giver if the famished affections are to be fed and our fellow men are to be blessed. For we receive only as we share.

If we are expressing consciously and conscientiously the divine qualities of which we are actually composed and if we are identifying ourselves with our true source, we are engaging in the activity which assures not only adequate daily supply but affluence. We are finding ourselves manifesting integrity and are making evident our oneness, or unity, with God. Our integrity is immediately recognized by those with whom we have personal and business relations. It is always reciprocated. It engenders respect. It brings beneficence.

The Christian Scientist, so occupied, will not find himself in uninteresting, unremunerative employment. He will not be a mere cog in a wheel. He will be protected from exploitation, dullness, and a feeling of futility. He will be an influential individual in the factory, in business, or in the profession in which he is finding his present opportunity to express his individual talents. He will be able to put into practice those ideas emanating from divine Mind, for which he is constantly listening. He is engaged in that vital spiritual activity which assures success. His example will give confidence and assurance to his neighbor. He will be taking his part in the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth.

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"AWAKE, PUT ON STRENGTH"

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