Effective Steps

Those seeking to know what steps to take to find supply, direction in their lives, physical healing, or spiritual awakening and purification will be helped by Jesus' words (Luke 11:9 ), "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Today, the world over, Christians and non-Christians alike are looking for answers to the same problems and living in much the same mental environment as existed two thousand years ago, with hunger, poverty, "wars and rumours of wars" (Mark 13:7 ), and indecision hanging like threatening clouds and with the even greater needs of moral awakening and freedom.

Less than one hundred years ago Mrs. Eddy pointed out the way whereby these longings of the world might be satisfied. She writes in Science and Health (p. 264 ), "We must look where we would walk, and we must act as possessing all power from Him in whom we have our being."

In seeking the unfoldment of supply, the Christian Scientist acts as possessing all good already; he is aware of the individual need, as well as the needs of his community and of his church. And he is assured of not being impoverished by his giving, because he gives not to receive in return, but in the hope of doing good for others.

The real Christian Scientist seeks to do his part in establishing peace in the world. He first seeks to understand his own perfection as God's idea and from this pure nucleus expands his understanding to include his family, business associates, community, and the world. His desire to love is ever growing, and therefore his experience is never stalemated or bogged down.

Mrs. Eddy demands that we take positive action in seeking a solution to the world's perplexing suggestions of need. She bases her work on the understanding that God has never changed His perfect plan for man and that this man, created perfect, has always remained so. She directs us to accept this perfection, to rise above the seeming clouds of discord, and to dwell instead in the sunlight of Love, Truth, and Life and to do so with complete assurance and faith.

Like Naaman, who sought healing of his leprosy and was told to wash himself seven times in the river Jordan, many of us balk at being directed to take a simple step of faith and obedience and expect instead to be asked to do some "great thing" (II Kings 5:13 ). We might take our guide from the familiar hymn (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 169),

For the young person just launching his career, this means faith in taking each daily step as it unfolds, in expressing in each task all he can of man's innate perfection. It requires that one dismiss the fears of not obtaining a satisfying position, of not finding a suitable and loving husband or wife, or of living a useless and barren life and turn instead with joy and singing to the task immediately before him. For the older person it means rejecting suggestions of years stretching ahead into uselessness and focusing instead on man's purpose of living each moment perfectly.

After serving a few weeks in the Armed Forces, I found that the rigors of basic training had almost paralyzed a tendon of one ankle, and for a week I could no longer keep the pace set or remain with a formation on even short marches. Though having only a few moments each day to devote to the study of Christian Science, I diligently sought my strength directly from God.

In quiet, prayerful study, I found the answer in the third chapter of the book of Acts. There we read that after Peter had taken the lame man by the hand and lifted him up, "he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with [Peter and John] into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God."

I was forced by this stirring account to ask myself what I intended to do with my God-given perfection and how I was going to commit myself to a life of expressing love and joy with each new step. Ignoring the pressures and worries that seemed to be in the offing for the next hour, the next day, and the many weeks ahead, I declared that at that moment I was the perfect son of God and that this moment would be followed by a similar one, and that one by another, for eternity.

The healing came at once. In the next two days I completed a five-mile hike and was chosen as part of a select group to march in a special parade and review.

God has given to each of us the talent of faith. If we are fearful and hold it tightly clutched in our fist, it will remain unused and unprofitable, but if we stretch out that hand in the act of loving or in the act of praising God, this will be an effective step in multiplying our talent. Then we shall find fruition in spiritual understanding—the consciousness of God's perfection and of man's inheritance of Love's kingdom.