Obedience

WILLARD M. GRIMES

When one considers the discordant conditions which have confronted man from the dawn of human history, and which seem to be so much in evidence at the present time, one may well be led to accept the explanation given by Christian Science, that these conditions are fundamentally the result of disobedience to God. If God is good, as one has every authority and right to believe, and as one must believe if hope is to be harbored at all, His laws must be good, and so long as one lives in obedience to those laws, his experience will be good. When one departs from the divine law, either through ignorance or sin, he finds himself enmeshed in the troubles from which he would gladly escape, and out of which, fortunately, there always leads a highway of escape if he will travel it,—the highway of obedience to Spirit, God.

The self-righteousness which would excuse men for their misfortunes and lay the blame wholly upon the creator, thereby avoiding the necessity for any effort on their part to overcome evil, is simply an evasion of their responsibility. Such may exclaim with the Eastern poet:—

What! from his helpless Creatures be repaid
Pure Gold for what he lent us dross-alloy'd;

and yet, if one has attained to any degree of honesty and sincerity, he knows in his heart that the heavenly Father must have created man "in his own image." Then in so far as his present state is less than this standard, the fault lies with him; therefore, in some way, like the prodigal in the Master's parable, he has departed from the Father's house and must return to his rightful place as the obedient son of God.

Neither can one lay aside the necessity for the conquering of self by attributing his disasters to a remote progenitor named Adam, nor can he release from all partnership with error by asserting, with another of the world's great poets, that it was "man's first disobedience" tht "brought death into the world, and all our woe." Through the teachings of Christian Science, as presented by Mrs. Eddy, it is constantly becoming clearer that each individual is daily and momentarily faced with the demand to choose whom he will serve, and upon that choice, and especially upon the action in support of that choice, depends the course of his experience.

The Bible promise is conditional, "If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land," and, if one expects to receive good in any other way, he is sure to be disappointed. It is important to remember that the fulfillment of the promise of good depends upon being both "willing" and "obedient." Obedience which is perfunctory is not real obedience; it is merely a temporary and expedient concession on the part of self-will, which still claims to hold the inward control and stands ready to advance its interests at every opportunity. Lot's wife obeyed the command to leave Sodom, but her reluctance, as evidenced by her backward turning, made her outward obedience of no avail. On the other hand, the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son, when the test of obedience came to him, made such a sacrifice unnecessary. Obedience requires an immediate and unconditional surrender of self in the futherance of God's plan, a sincere and practical adoption of Jesus' prayer, "Not as I will, but as thou wilt."

The further the true Christian Scientist advances, the more obedient he becomes. He drops all delusion regarding the possibility of ever being placed in a favored class from whom no obedience is required and recognizes that obedience is the proof of sonship. Mrs. Eddy says in one of her Messages to The Mother Church, "Obedience is the test of love" (Message for 1902, p. 17). It is recorded of our Master that, "though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered." Having learned the lesson of obedience himself, Christ Jesus made it the test of discipleship. Jesus also knew the dire consequences of disobedience and illustrated it by parable and precept.

Throughout the ages, by various processes of self-deception and human pride, men have worked themselves into a state of rebellion against God's laws, even though these laws have always been for their advantage and enjoyment. Sooner or later mankind will learn the folly of demanding or expecting concessions on God's part, or changes in or departures from His laws; and, in true humility, all will be ready to travel together as one obedient family.

To those who have gained a vision of Christian Science and an appreciation and love for its Discoverer and Founder, Mrs. Eddy, obedience should be natural and unquestioned; and, desiring to follow that which is right, we can accept with gratitude her assurance that if we "adhere to the teachings of the Bible, Science and Health, and our Manual," we shall "obey the law and gospel" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 251). If we have progressed to the stage of church membership, we will also heed carefully one of her instructions, given toward the close of her earthly experience, in which she said (Miscellany, p. 360), "Abide in fellowship with and obedience to The Mother Church, and in this way God will bless and prosper you," adding in support of this conviction her personal testimony, "This I know, for He has proved it to me for forty years in succession."

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