HOW does divine Love meet the human need? Mrs. Eddy has written in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 494) that "divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need," and that "to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good." All Christian Scientists have to some extent experienced the truth of these statements. At times, however, some of us have not been able to furnish the proofs of our understanding of these words of our beloved Leader.
Lack of the supply of any human need indicates lack of perfect universal love in our thinking; for the reflection of divine Love is good, an active expression manifesting selfsupplying Mind. If we think that all we have to do is to repeat the above words and then look for divine Love to shower its good gifts upon us while we keep right on with our old habits of wrong thinking, we are destined to be disappointed; for love is active, and its field of activity is in true thinking. Substance and supply are not separate from Love, and if the love of God is reflected in our hearts, we must be conscious of His blessings, conscious of divine Love's meeting our human needs.
Substance is expressed through ever active spiritual ideas. We recognize these ideas and receive the good they bring indicates the proportion that we reflect and express Love's divine qualities in thought, word, and action. To love is to achieve, and it is well to read Mrs. Eddy's words in the second paragraph of page 250 of "Miscellaneous Writings," to see if our lives are measuring up to her demands on love. There she says, "Love cannot be a mere abstraction, or goodness without activity and power."
Divine Love's meeting of the human need is the unfoldment of divine good in human consciousness. It is the result of our conscious recognition of God's goodness and love, and is unfolded only through pure channels of thought; for impurity clogs, paralyzes, deadens, and isolates. This unfoldment of thought is like a flower, which yields up its wealth of color and fragrance in a bloom of beauty, giving joy to all within whose radius it appears. It is an emergence into a higher and better experience, and is the result of a larger vision of Life, Truth, and Love retained and utilized. And Love's reward is instant and at hand, for it abides with Love. In Revelation we read, "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be."
A mistake of mortals lies in believing that material riches will meet all human needs, when it is a fact well known that material wealth will not keep a man from being sick, sinful, or troubled. Money cannot supply the human needs of health, strength, or intelligence, and, as everyone knows, material riches may take wings at a time most unexpected and inconvenient. But the substance of a spiritual idea is permanent and indestructible, "an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away."
Let us take some of the things, the objects of material sense, that may confront us from day to day, and exchange them for spiritual ideas, according to Mrs. Eddy's words on pages 123 and 269 of Science and Health.
Do we need work? Then we may remember that work is not something to get, not an object of material sense, but that it is a giving of service; also, that of ourselves we can do nothing, "for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." And what have we to give or surrender in exchange for the good required to meet our human needs? We can give up our belief in a material selfhood with its wants and fears, and claim our sonship with God, exchanging self-will for the will of our heavenly Father, so that we may then be able to give forth or reflect the activity or work that God has for us to do. He has work for each one of us; and as we listen only to His voice, we can know clearly what it is He would have us do. Sometimes we may feel that our work or supply emanates directly from an organization or persons, forgetting that our needs are met from one source, from divine Love alone; and who or what shall separate us from the divine Love that meets our human needs? "Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand . . . : behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him."
If we make a reality of the mortal beliefs of greed, domination, manipulation, corruption, and injustice in business, we may bring into our experience the condition spoken of in Revelation, "that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast." Christian Science, applied, proves these evil beliefs to be powerless, unreal; for the supply of all activity, all substance, is with God. So, where Life is, there is abundance; where Truth is, there is freedom, strength, and power; where Love is, comfort, kindness, and happiness are found. With Soul are beauty and satisfaction. Where Spirit is, there is purity, also riches and honor; where Principle is, honesty and justice are; where Mind is, there are unlimited intelligent ideas supplying our human needs.
Have we felt slighted, overlooked, forgotten, when others were included and seemed happy? If so, what about the reflection of Love that is impartial? Our thought must have been barren and unexpectant, for Love cares for all and only error is excluded from its blessings. And, after all, it may have been an object of material sense that we wanted and not spiritual truth; and should we not be grateful to divine Love for compelling us to make the exchange?
Do the kindred beliefs of poverty and old age seem to us to loom ahead? Then surely we are expecting to walk onward without God, and no wonder we are fearful! And if we do go without God we know that it is not His fault, "for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Divine Love is still our tender shepherd, and where our shepherd is, there is love to minister tenderly to all our needs.
Do we miss loving friends, companionship, home, and long for comfort and kindness? Let us reflect a love so ample that it includes friendliness for all mankind. For home is primarily in our consciousness to express, to give, to share. And let us cast down "the accuser of our brethren," namely, all beliefs of unkindness, coldness, and inconsideration, of superiority or inferiority in ourselves and in others, so that kindness and gentleness, humility and gratitude, peace and joy, may bloom in thought, for Love's attraction never fails. "I will not leave you comfortless," said Christ Jesus, "I will come to you." Who will recognize and receive the Christ, Truth, that comes to heal and bless, to comfort and satisfy? The answer may be found in the fourteenth chapter of John's Gospel.
Mortal mind and matter being one, matter is therefore not separate from mortal mind. Exchange the beliefs of mortal mind for the truths of divine Mind, and we find true substance. And since Love is Mind, true substance cannot be separated from Love. Thus the truths of divine Mind, taking the place of mortal mind's beliefs, unfold in consciousness as spiritual ideas, bringing us to the place that God has prepared, sheltering, feeding, and clothing us —meeting our human needs.
