The only real success that any man can ever achieve lies in his demonstration of the fact that he is at one with God. It lies in his practical living of the Godlike qualities which constitute his true being.

We learn from the Bible that God created man in His own image and likeness. One's true success is measured by the clarity with which he shows forth that divine image and likeness.

Merely making money, even a great deal of it, isn't really success. Fame and business and social position often escape the most persistent effort. By themselves, these don't really bring happiness or true success. As Paul put it in his letter to the Corinthians (I Cor. 2:9), "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."

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, has made this trenchant observation in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." using Soul as a synonym for God (pp. 60, 61): "Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind, and happiness would be more readily attained and would be more secure in our keeping, if sought in Soul. Higher enjoyments alone can satisfy the cravings of immortal man. We cannot circumscribe happiness within the limits of personal sense. The senses confer no real enjoyment."

Is there a way by which we can learn what true success really is and bring it into our lives? Yes, there is. It's the Science of the Christ, the divinely revealed laws and rules which the Master related to human living in his Sermon on the Mount and in his other discourses.

Our talk today will deal with three aspects of this Science: first, our successful demonstration of our at-one-ment with God; second, our practical expression of this divine unity in our successful living with other men; and, third, the truly successful living with oneself which results from the conscious awareness of man's unity with God.

Our true success is measured by our obedience to the two great commandments in which Christ Jesus summed up all the teaching of the law and the prophets: love God and love thy neighbor as thyself.

The fact that God is Love and that God is infinite means that all of divine Love is present everywhere all the time because God Himself is fully present everywhere all the time. The demonstration of His divine presence and of our individual at-one-ment with Him is a divine command which flows from the very nature of His being, and it's always possible of successful achievement.

Does the statement that man is at one with God mean that Christian Science teaches that man is a little part of God, a little piece of Him? No, not at all. Man is God's reflection. Actually he is spiritual, not material. Mrs. Eddy states emphatically (ibid., p. 480), "Man is not God, and God is not man." She explains in another place in her writings (ibid., p. 470), "God is the creator of man, and, the divine Principle of man remaining perfect, the divine idea or reflection, man, remains perfect. Man is the expression of God's being."

Our success in the realization of our at-one-ment with God, our practical demonstration of our Godlike qualities as His spiritual image and likeness, is measured by our obedience to divine Principle, which is Love. It is measured by our willingness to love God above all else, to let the heart be so filled with this love as to exclude from it all opposite qualities. The highest of all joys, the acme of all success, is to be so at one with God that we are individually the very expression of divine Love.

The second great commandment which Jesus gave us requires one to love his neighbor as he does himself. Now does this mean we have to love the sinful, quarrelsome, miserable view of man that we sometimes see as our neighbor? No, of course not. There are many men in the world today who certainly are not very lovable as seen through the eyes of their fellows.

But Jesus didn't qualify this divine rule of Love so that it would apply only to the men that you like, to the people you would love anyway. His law of love was universal—wide-ranging. It left no one out.

The answer is to love man as God loves him. How can you love that way? Only by seeing your brother in the same light that God sees him. The only way we can do this is to realize and demonstrate man's at-one-ment with God, his expression of the divine qualities, so consciously that we're able to see through the mask of the fleshly man, the material, carnal, sinning man, see right through to the Christlike spiritual man that God has made in His image and likeness.

And the wonderful part of this is that as we insist on discerning the God-given qualities of other men, these qualities more and more come to the surface in ourselves and others. They become manifest and apparent to others as well as to ourselves.

This insistence on pressing through to the good in others leaves no room for the indulgence of criticism, which seems so common in usual human experience. But the only way you can honestly stop criticizing is by exercising sufficient spiritual discernment to be able to see the other individual as God's own likeness, to see him as he really is, as the reflection of his loving Father. This means seeing the Christliness that is in every individual without exception.

It seems only too easy to criticize, to see evil in another, but with enough effort we can see the qualities of the Christ in him. Sooner or later we find in ourselves that which we are looking for in others. The more one complains about others, the harder it is to live with oneself. And just the reverse is true. The expression of divine Love makes one lovable. The one who is truly obedient to the Master's commandment to love another as himself becomes more and more worthy himself of the other's love. The love which is of God is never unrequited, never fruitless, always blesses.

This is necessarily true because God is omnipotent, all-powerful, omniscient, all-wise, and omnipresent, everywhere present. The love which is obedient to God's commandment partakes of His nature. It too is all-wise, all-powerful, present throughout the universe. Christian Science teaches that our love for our neighbor must not be merely a sentimental affection, a blindly optimistic, Pollyannaish goodwill, but a strong, wise, active, effective, divinely derived love. Such a love, and only such a love, is sure of success, true success.

The concluding section of our discussion today deals with successful living with oneself. The second great commandment we've been considering enjoins us to love our neighbor as ourself. It doesn't say just "Love your neighbor"—period. It says we must love our neighbor as ourself. The standard of our love for others, then, is the kind of love we have for ourselves, the great Master has told us. What kind of love do you have for yourself?

We have seen that the love we must have for others must be an expression of divine Love, not a selfish or merely sentimental love. And so that love we must have for ourselves must be divine. Such a love is not self-indulgent or foolish or blind. Rather must it be spiritually discerning and wise as well as tender, thoughtful, and considerate. We must love our real, spiritual nature, which is made in the image of God.

Wisdom and discernment characterize the kind of love for ourselves which will set a right standard and basis for our love for others. Just as we look behind the mask to see the Christ in our neighbor so that we may love him understandingly, so we must look for the Christ in ourselves if we are to discern that which is truly worthy of our love.

Just as our neighbor may be not very lovable unless sufficient spiritual discernment is exercised to see the Christ in him instead of a sinning mortal man, so we ourselves are not always too pleasant to look at on the outside. But why should we keep the divine beauty of our true selfhood, made by God in His exact image and likeness, hidden behind a mask, buried beneath a carnal, often discordant, sense of self?

Why should we, indeed? Take a few minutes today, if possible, right after this program, to stop to think what kind of a person you are. Be completely honest with yourself. Don't try to fool yourself. Be really completely honest in appraising yourself. See what kind of a person you seem to be, what kind of a person others often see when they look at you.

But please don't stop there. That is just the mask, the human personality, that you've built up or have permitted others to place over your real selfhood. Go right on to see yourself as your heavenly Father made you, spiritual and perfect as His expression of His beauty, grace, and wisdom. This is your real selfhood, which is truly worthy of your love and of the love of others.

Doing this involves correcting the wrong, selfish, discordant thinking we too often indulge in, which would deface our real nature. It involves spiritual baptism, purification—putting off "the old man with his deeds," as Paul said (Col. 3:9), and putting on "the new man," the real man, made in God's likeness.

Now why can't you be right now that kind of man through and through, outside as well as inside:' The answer is, You can, and you can be it right now. It's a very right desire, and God will help you to succeed in it. Actually He's already made you very good. You do not have to do His work all over for Him. All you have to do is to let the Godlike qualities which constitute your true being come to the surface and be freely expressed in your daily living and loving.

Then you will really be at peace with yourself. No longer will you be doing the things which constantly make you condemn yourself. When you deny the impulses of the carnal mind, accept the deep-running purification and spiritualization of thought that true Christianity demands of us—when you see yourself as God made you, loving and lovable—then you can safely let that Christlike self express itself freely, spontaneously, joyously.

True harmony, peace, serenity, and accomplishment come with such living, and you will be truly successful in living with yourself. Actually the two great commandments are one—one in all their three parts, love for God, love for your neighbor, and love for yourself. They are one in love, and love itself is the scientific way to achieve true success. Love itself is the highest success in living. And it's yours for the loving.