The Bible records God said to Abraham, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." ^{Gen. 22:18;} As Abraham proved, enlightened obedience to God can result in many blessings, and with the coming of the Messiah the whole world was blessed. Obedience to God's will corrects weaknesses of character. It has a direct relationship to our health. It makes us better citizens and neighbors.

A twentieth-century poet writes of the legendary powers and forces supposed to have served the wise Solomon that their "strong obedience broke the sky." How much more potent to break our world free from limiting beliefs of every kind is the strong obedience of actual men and women in all ages who understandingly serve the all-wise divine Mind, God.

Mrs. Eddy pertinently writes, "Learn to obey; but learn first what obedience is." ^{Message to The Mother Church for 1900, p. 8;} In many circles today obedience is unpopular. Understandably. It has often been demanded without right and without reason. But the divine Principle, Love, claims obedience rightly, and in His revealed Word God gives clear reason for obedience. Even the Ten Commandments as received by Moses are prefaced by specific identification of God, their source, and of what He had already done for the Israelites: "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee ... out of the house of bondage." ^{Ex. 20:2;}

Christ Jesus was "obedient unto death," as Paul puts it. And by his unfailing obedience to God's will and purpose he overcame death. He also demonstrated spiritual authority over the evils sapping many nations today—injustice, hunger, violence, disease.

In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy, writing of the one infinite intelligence, God, says: "Divine Mind rightly demands man's entire obedience, affection, and strength. No reservation is made for any lesser loyalty. Obedience to Truth gives man power and strength." ^{Science and Health, p. 183;} Obedience to God's commandments and purposes is never a characteristic of weakness, never refuge for those who do not think or act for themselves. It is a source of strength to all who exercise it. It brings healing to individuals and makes significant contribution to solving the problems of the world.

Do we remain reluctant to follow God's directing? Then we must learn even more fully what this obedience is. It is an understanding obedience, not ignorant or simplistic, but based on the precise understanding of God and man revealed through the Christ, through Christ Jesus and more recently through Christian Science. It is principled obedience, not blindly personal, but owed to the divine Principle, Love, the only cause or origin of man. It is scientific obedience, our natural spiritual response to immutable spiritual law. And it is an obedience that heals and brings freedom, because it shows us what we really are.

Obedience to God's demands on us is the precondition for freedom; but this is by no means the unmotivated so-called freedom to choose either good or evil. Jesus taught and demonstrated the Christ, Truth, which makes men free, yet he told his disciples, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you." ^{John 15:16;} The irresistible spiritual attraction of the Christ drew them to him and made them his followers, obedient to his teachings and able to heal. Yet in being chosen rather than choosing, they found themselves truly free as individual moral and spiritual agents. In obedience to God and His Christ, we too are free, free to observe God's commandments, free to be ourselves, free to rise to our fullest manhood and humanhood and to help the whole world do the same.

In astronomy the earth circles the sun, but the larger sun does not arbitrarily dominate the smaller earth. Both bodies are obeying the laws of their own nature and of celestial mechanics. So God is no arbitrary tyrant. As the divine Principle, Love, He governs the universe including man, but always in accord with spiritual law, the law of His own nature. And man, as idea of divine Principle, obeys the law of his own nature in being the perfect effect of perfect cause; and in so doing, he is free. Our recognition of this can silence temptation to self-willed disobedience, whether in adult or child, while sustaining the freedom and individuality of each.

Obedience to God's will, then, is found to be normal and natural, the fulfillment of our own spiritual being. It is in reality neither a choice between good and evil nor a ceaseless weary struggle against evil. It is our reflection of God's love for us. In the words of John, "We love him, because he first loved us." ^{I John 4:19;}

And this obedience can bless not only ourselves but also all nations. First, it enables us to identify and support whatever right measures are developed by governments and other groups for mutual help between peoples. Second, the consistent recognition of man's relationship to God as individual expression of the divine Principle, Love, and our obedient living of this relationship help to open all men's thought to its truth and its blessings.

Mrs. Eddy writes, "Truth, Life, and Love are the only legitimate and eternal demands on man, and they are spiritual lawgivers, enforcing obedience through divine statutes." She goes on, "Controlled by the divine intelligence, man is harmonious and eternal." ^{Science and Health, p. 184.} This eternal harmony is the full effect of obedience to God scientifically understood.

Peter J. Henniker-Heaton