God-centered living brings us health, joy, usefulness, ability, freedom, uprightness, and all that is worth attaining. True God-centered living is not an emotional state but a state of understanding. It rests upon the knowledge of God as Life and of man as Life's emanation, its expression, which cannot turn from its source but is fully attracted to it. Selfish, materialistic interests fall away once the joy of living to express God is well established.

Christian Science shows us how to live God-centered lives and how to be satisfied without self-centered interests and aims. This Science notes with reverence the teaching of Christ Jesus on this subject. He saw the danger of becoming fascinated with worldliness, and he said, "What is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?" ^{Luke 9:25;}

The Apostle John learned this great Christian lesson, and he wrote: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." ^{I John 2:15;} And Paul declared, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." ^{I Cor. 2:9;}

Here were warning and promise: the warning not to center thought upon worldly things and the promise of spiritual things for those who love God, good.

In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy writes, "Paul and John had a clear apprehension that, as mortal man achieves no worldly honors except by sacrifice, so he must gain heavenly riches by forsaking all worldliness." ^{Science and Health, p. 459;} God-centered thought empowers thought with good, and it brings with it the ability to heal and comfort those who are in need.

Love is a tremendous power; it directs thought ceaselessly to the thing loved; it sacrifices all for the object of its affection. Love of God may not come to one in a moment, but the knowledge gained through Christian Science that this higher sense of love is the actual order of man's being helps one direct his mental attractions away from self and superficial living and center his thought upon God and upon deeper ways of proving His goodness.

In Science there is a true law of attraction by which every spiritual identity is held in at-one-ment with the divine Principle that creates it. When this law is understood, it has a powerful effect upon human consciousness. Mrs. Eddy says: "Every human thought must turn instinctively to the divine Mind as its sole centre and intelligence. Until this be done, man will never be found harmonious and immortal." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 307, 308.}

Someone once sent me some lovely white violets closely arranged in a small vase. Each flower stood upright on its stem. I placed the vase on my desk near a window, and before long each little blossom was leaning sharply toward the light. The attraction of the violets toward the sun, the source of their strength according to belief, was a delightful illustration of the turning of human consciousness to God. It symbolized the attraction which Spirit exercises over every idea made in God's likeness.

The attracting power is God's. The human being's responsibility is to yield to that power. The God-centered individual looks for his all in God. There he finds his true individuality, which distinguishes him from all others. There he finds his real character, which perfectly manifests the Christ. There he finds his eternal home, which is his consciousness of life in Spirit, Love.

Because man's whole being exists in God and is centered there, one does "lose himself," his true sense of self, when he tries to find being in matter. He feels "cast away" if sickness strikes, if he is entangled in unhappy human relationships, or if he indulges in downright evil. It is evil, or animal magnetism, which would act as a counterfeit law and draw the attention of mankind away from Love.

The God-centered thinker takes Love into consideration in everything he does. If there is a decision to make, his first impulse is to choose the side of unselfed love and to reject the side of selfishness. If apathy toward spiritual duties influences him, he struggles to regain the strength of his natural attraction to Love. He is uncomfortable in a worldly atmosphere and endeavors to purify it by his knowledge of Science.

The enduring influence for good of those people who have led God-centered lives is one of the most astonishing lessons in human history. The effect of their God-centered living increases in illumination. The good they accomplish is incalculable.

In different ages the center of attention of humanity has shifted from God to men, and sometimes back again. Christian Science is producing God-centered living in men and women. This means progress for the race, for devotion to God brings out all that is worth living for. God-centered living achieves immortality and ends all that is unlike Love.

Helen Wood Bauman