THE goal of the Christian is life eternal; his direct route, right motive. The avowed motive of Jesus was that men "might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." This life the Master defined as knowledge (Science) of God, and any endeavor is wasted which deflects from the right line of this polar star. Right living involves Science, and one has to be true to it in order to obtain results, just as one has to be true to the science of mathematics or of physics in order to obtain right results. We cannot be false in Science any more than we can trifle with electricity or an earthquake.
Nothing is desirable, nothing is profitable, nothing is good, nothing is worth while but the true understanding of life. We must beware of the lure of will-o'-the-wisps, of temporal motives and material aims. Many a Titanic in the way of mortal purpose meets shipwreck in its mad rush along the track of erring motive. The value of our moments, hours, years, is exactly the sum of eternity they bring. It is not past thinking that there are those among the world's great who have won the plaudits of the world, yet without the acquisition of truths of eternal value. They are like the chariot-racer in a play, for their race is an empty dream of seeming motion without progress; and the whole span of their mortal existence leaves them where they began.
Victories of ambition and self-will are vain; personal prowess, or fame in the domain of commerce, politics, science, or religion, are chimeras which afford the life-seeker only food for reflection. We squander precious moments pursuing chimeras, yet we read that "to be carnally minded [motived] is death." Do place, power, popularity allure? Is not my place my state of consciousness? Is not omnipotence the only power? Is one less worthy than I receiving a recognition withheld from me? Then I need to remember that the only recognition which counts is being perpetually extended by the All-knowing.
