I was pleased. Though I soon would be out of work for four months, I prided myself on my lack of regard for money. I was enjoying life while friends scrambled to find jobs in order to continue bringing in the pay. But when an unexpected expense clobbered my money reserves, I suddenly realized that money meant something to me after all.

I saw that I had been making a god out of money just as much as those whom I had been chiding for having an obsession with earning a lot. In my case, I had become fascinated by how little I was spending. Many people acknowledge that it is not good to become consumed with the drive to make money, but feeling freer because one doesn't have money can be a subtle form of the same error.

The first commandment says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." ^{Ex. 20:3;} We make "other gods" out of various facets of materiality when they become more important than spiritual growth. Various objects, habits, and goals are gods when they lead us astray from seeing the one God as our only source of happiness, health, and beauty. When our priorities are right, we'll find ourselves happy, healthy, attractive, in a very natural way.

God, the creator of all, is the only real power, and this power is always good, always in control. Christ Jesus has told us: "Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?... For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." ^{Matt. 6:31–33;} Seeking first God's kingdom helps us relinquish the temptation to measure our happiness, health, or attractiveness against matter's standards. And we find that material objects, habits, and goals have less control over us, since we don't worship them as "other gods." Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered and founded Christian Science, writes, "The lines of demarcation between immortal man, representing Spirit, and mortal man, representing the error that life and intelligence are in matter, show the pleasures and pains of matter to be myths, and human belief in them to be the father of mythology, in which matter is represented as divided into intelligent gods." ^{Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 294;}

Are we avoiding the obvious errors of matter's mythology but accepting subtle counterparts, as I had done in shunning moneymaking but feeling less burdened as a result? For example, a firm understanding that God is Mind and that we, as God's children, reflect His intelligence, has helped many students improve their grades. But does the student earning good grades pray to demonstrate God's intelligence, not brainpower? Is there a similarity between earning high marks based on a belief in superior human intelligence and earning low marks based on a belief in lack of intelligence? The constant acknowledgment that all of our innovative thoughts, clear reasoning, and creative problem-solving are evidence of Mind's guidance—this is what prevents worshiping the human mind.

What about personal appearance? Certainly, it's right to look our best, but it's important to detect and banish any subtle gods that would deceive us into false worship. Being overweight, for example, can be healed through prayer, through understanding that food, of itself, has no power to control one or make one unattractive. If food has genuine power, then, by definition, it must be a god. But there is only one God, and He is Spirit, not matter. Perhaps we see this. But wouldn't we be making as much of a god out of food if we believed that we are slim and fit because we have the willpower not to overeat and that without this willpower our body would be unattractive? This food belief must be banished too.

Attractiveness can come naturally when we seek a greater understanding of our spiritual selfhood. Then real beauty shines through and helps free us from the limitations of physicality. Why be satisfied with a less substantial basis for beauty?

Complacently accepting matter's mythology as long as the grades are good and the body feels fine opens the door to trouble. Being happily comfortable in matter is a subtler form of the same error as being uncomfortable in matter, and Mrs. Eddy tells us: "False pleasure will be, is, chastened; it has no right to be at peace. To suffer for having 'other gods before me,' is divinely wise." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 209.} We should strive to raise our thought entirely above matter-based judgments of ourselves and others and know that we are really God's spiritual representative, man.

When we are enjoying painless activity, adequate supply, and harmony in our daily lives, let's acknowledge that we are free and happy because in truth we are and always have been spiritual. Seeking enlightened understanding rather than comfort and happiness in matter will help us guard against subtle gods that might linger in thought even though the more obvious errors are being replaced by Truth. Putting God first, we find that materiality diminishes in importance, and we rejoice in our more consistent practice of having no other gods before Spirit.