Opportunities of Good

Duncan Sinclair

Everyone with the well-being of his fellow-men at heart has experienced disappointment when his efforts, or the fruits of his efforts, on their behalf have appeared to be delayed or thwarted. Not one of the Hebrew prophets escaped this ordeal. Read their utterances in the Old Testament, and time and again there will be detected the note of sadness, even the wail of sorrow, over the sins of an unrepentant people. But continue to read, and despondency will be found giving place to hope, for the idealist ever remembers that the ideal must sooner or later accomplish the discomfiture of evil.

Christ Jesus had his moments of gloom. This is not to be wondered at when one considers the battle he waged with the forces of darkness—the superstitions of men, their materiality, their sinfulness, their blindness to spiritual Truth. But the Master never allowed himself to be overwhelmed by the mesmerism of evil. When the falsities of the world pressed heavily upon him, he humbly withdrew himself from the ken of mortals to commune with his heavenly Father, and after realizing again the truth about God's love for His children and that the understanding of good must ultimately overcome all belief in evil, he could return to his disciples and to his healing work among the multitudes, refreshed and invigorated. And these times of holy communion with Truth, while proving to Jesus the powerlessness of evil, must also have strengthened his conviction that life presented to him never failing opportunities of good.

Mrs. Eddy, who so consecratedly followed the Master, had many experiences similar to his, for the world opposed the truth of Christian Science she discovered as bitterly as it opposed the truth which Jesus revealed. Our Leader's mission was to state the truth in scientific terms, even the truth about God and His creation, and to expose the errors of material sense, including the lie that evil is real; and in doing so she encountered the world's hatred. Her journey, therefore, was not an easy one at times; but always she overcame the heartaches and the disappointments through keeping the ideal Truth before her, remembering its power to vanquish every belief in the presence and reality of evil. On page 426 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" we find these helpful words of hers: "The discoverer of Christian Science finds the path less difficult when she has the high goal always before her thoughts, than when she counts her footsteps in endeavoring to reach it. When the destination is desirable, expectation speeds our progress."

The Christian Scientist in his battle with the falsities of evil may have his dark moments, but he never fails to remember the great truth which Christian Science has given him, namely, that God, good, is infinite. This truth is a perpetual inspiration to him. Why then should he fear evil? Why should he be dismayed when evil seems to be in evidence, since he knows that good alone is real? Never at any time are evil and its seeming effects other than erroneous mental suggestion. God, good, is ever present. The opportunity to know good and to demonstrate it is now.

Instead of brooding over the days that are gone, days perhaps rendered unhappy by sinful deeds or made sorrowful by disease, should we not rather allow our thoughts to dwell on the good that in reality is with us in infinite measure? And we can avail ourselves of this good by knowing that man as God's idea reflects it to an unlimited extent. It is this knowing that enables us to be ever expectant of good, and to show it forth in loving-kindness, helpfulness, truthfulness, and uprightness.

"Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest"—the Master's words. How many are to-day crying out for the healing truth! Who among us will say that his opportunities of doing good are limited? But let no one think he can lose one of these opportunities without loss to himself. Our revered Leader writes on page 12 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany": "A lost opportunity is the greatest of losses. Whittier mourned it as what 'might have been.'" Then she adds significantly: "We own no past, no future, we possess only now. If the reliable now is carelessly lost in speaking or in acting, it comes not back again."

In Lamentations it is written, "They [the Lord's compassions] are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." Are Christian Scientists as diligent as they should be in availing themselves of the opportunities of good that are continually presenting themselves? "The reliable now" is ours. In it sick are to healed, the sorrowing comforted, the sinful cleansed; and this is possible to all who understand Christian Science.

Duncan Sinclair

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