To one looking at the material world, with its prevalence of discord, crime, poverty, and sickness, the question sometimes asked, "What is the sense of life?" seems a fair one. But how could the inquirer expect to find a satisfactory answer from one with a material and atheistic viewpoint?

Over nineteen hundred years ago a rich young man asked a searching question of a fellow countryman. "Good Master," he said, "what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" (Matt. 19:16.)

Whether this young man was dissatisfied with his material lot of many riches can be only a conjecture. Jesus' recommendation to him was that he keep the commandments. The Master's further injunction was, "Go and sell that thou hast ... and come and follow me."

To a young man of today asking, "What is the sense of life?" we can imagine that a similar injunction of sacrifice could be bewildering. Yet many a young man of this day faces the same necessity that the rich young man of Jesus' time did: to lay off a material sense of life in order to put on a spiritual sense.

Christian Science enables us to bring this necessity to fulfillment as we find the true nature of God and of man, made in His image and likeness. Recognizing this true status of man, we lay off limitations regarding the measure of strength, health, and intelligence that we may have.

Boundless joy and security come from the knowledge of our true relationship to loving God, our Father, whose presence we can mentally and spiritually feel. Yet the meaning of real Life is not complete until we learn not only of our relationship to God but also of our relationship to our neighbor, who is in reality our brother. Nor is this a sporadic relationship; it is a full-time activity of purposeful, loving service for the good of others.

The sense or purpose of life for Christians was summed up by their Exemplar, Christ Jesus (John 18:37): "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth."

What is Truth? This is an age-old question, asked by many seekers of Truth and asked also by Pontius Pilate, the judge of Jesus, to whom our Master made the preceding statement. A Christian Scientist learns that Truth is one of the seven synonyms for Deity that were given to us by Mrs. Eddy in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health. If we truly understand God and His creation, then we have found Truth. And we see that Truth is synonymous with the real Life, which is God. But we experience Truth only by putting off a material sense of things.

If we obey Jesus' command and follow him, then we too bear witness to Truth. What an adventure upon which to embark—this God-willed finding of Truth! As we look for good and find it in our homes, our businesses, our schools, farms, and shops, we find a reality that brings more harmony into our experience. Truth has been found in prison camps, in hospitals. It has been found over the conference table and on the supposed deathbed.

The finding of Truth is not a selfish one. It is not something that gives one an exculsive treasure or an advantage over others. The perspective of Truth reveals the universe controlled by God and occupied by His universal family. Each member of that family contributes love and goodwill to the others. This is our very being.

The search for the reason of one's existence may lead one to Mrs. Eddy's words, written to a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, and recorded in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 165): "As an active portion of one stupendous whole, goodness identifies man with universal good. Thus may each member of this church rise above the oft-repeated inquiry, What am I? to the scientific response: I am able to impart truth, health, and happiness, and this is my rock of salvation and my reason for existing."

What a noble reason this is for existing! How helpful this statement can be to one searching for health and satisfaction, seeking not for a restricted remedy but for the fountain of healing that is available to all. And as he makes that source of healing available to others through his work in Christian Science, he rises above the inharmonies of material existence and is progressively freed for greater healing in God's service.

Jesus' attitude toward his fellowmen was one of service. His manner was one of compassion, a deep yearning to help others. At one time he washed the disciples' feet. One may well ponder the significance of Jesus' act, as related in the thirteenth chapter of John, and of his command that the disciples should wash one another's feet.

Humility and affection are needed to follow Jesus' example. But an outward act of humility should manifest inward self-surrender. With the laying down of a personal sense of selfhood, as Jesus laid down his garments before the act of foot washing, one can subsequently reclothe himself in a better sense of his relationship to men and to God.

The unselfish desire to serve others need not bring martyrdom and deprivation. The desire to help others elevate themselves, to have them experience good, based on spiritual concepts of God and the man of His creating, receives the necessary power to accomplish good for others. And what does one have left after such sharing? He has more than he had before in health, satisfaction, supply.

We read in Science and Health (p. 518), "The rich in spirit help the poor in one grand brotherhood, all having the same Principle, or Father; and blessed is that man who seeth his brother's need and supplieth it, seeking his own in another's good."

So one finds his true sense of Life in the active, loving, truthful expression of Life, God.

If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?—Luke 16:11, 12.