"MANY are the afflictions of the righteous," says the Scripture, "but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." Yet so prone are mankind to look on the wrong side of things that, instead of rejoicing over the promise of God's deliverance, we too frequently spend the time bemoaning our troubles. We keep our attention on the seeming error instead of the redeeming Truth. If we look only at the material evidence, at "the things which are seen," there are times when we might well feel dismayed; but we are encouraged to look at "the things which are not seen," at the spiritual evidence of man's unity with God, and in this light one's passing troubles lose their seeming magnitude, and are seen as but the shadows that they are. Christian Science does not ignore human ills, or it would be of no service to mankind; but it does emphasize the fact that a way out of them is provided in a knowledge of the truth.
The teachings of the Master and of his apostles offer no encouragement to the hope of a rose-strewn path by which mortals may reach the kingdom of heaven, or by which they may rise from the material to the spiritual sense of being. It is true that the Christian is promised peace and joy and heaven, and he is assured that they are all his here and now, but they must be consciously attained through the overcoming of all that lies between the human sense of being and the divine, that is, of all thoughts and beliefs which are not of God; and this process of overcoming is not always what material sense would call pleasant. The apostle's injunction to use "the sword of the Spirit," implies that there is fighting to be done, and fighting sometimes involves hardship before the victory is gained.
The student of Christian Science at times feels needlessly humbled at the appearance of some physical disability, or when he comes under a belief of sickness. On the one side he fears the criticism of his friends, who usually demand immediate perfection of the Christian Scientist, and he is troubled lest he bring discredit upon the cause. On the other side he meets his own condemnation and discouragement. He may feel that because he calls himself a Christian Scientist he should not express any further discord, and he may even entertain a sense of rebellion or resentment at having to experience such conditions. Thus with shame and pride added to his enemy, he has a much harder battle to fight than if he recognized his modest position as merely a student of Christian Science, and that such experiences are but problems through the working out of which he may gain a higher understanding of divine Truth.
