“WIST ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" Thus did Christ Jesus, in his first recorded words at the early age of twelve, set the seal on true business as belonging to the Father.
On page 52 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy has beautifully written: "From early boyhood he was about his 'Father's business.' His pursuits lay far apart from theirs. His master was Spirit; their master was matter. He served God; they served mammon. His affections were pure; theirs were carnal." What an answer to the oft-repeated statement that a business man cannot be a Christian, cannot conform his business to God's law, and be successful!
It is recorded of Jesus that he "increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man;" yet he followed the humble trade of carpenter. One can picture him walking to and from the home at Nazareth, helping his fellows,—the sick, the sad, the poor, and the sinful,— perhaps by a smile or an encouraging word. How they must have loved him! Then, too, in the carpenter's shop, whatever he was fashioning, always he must have exercised loving care. Mrs. Eddy saw this, for she writes in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 166) that before he could become "the glorified," Jesus, the great Wayshower, had to be, through Christ, "an honest man, a good carpenter, and a good man."
When he was thirty years of age the full import of the Father's business unfolded to Jesus, and then in the three brief years following, he healed all manner of disease, regenerating the sinner, casting out devils, demonstrating supply for the multitude, and raising the dead; and in all this doing not his own but his Father's will. What a tremendous business in its scope and activity! The record of it has lived down through the ages; and Christian Science, the Christ Science, in its healing ministry, is again bringing it to light. The business world, too, is receiving the impetus it so sorely needs, through the demonstration of the truths of Christian Science by many business men and women whose unswerving faith in God is surely bringing confidence, assurance, and success to replace fear, doubt, and lack.
Much of the world's hard toil, be it mental or physical, together with its trail of anxiety, worry, and trouble, comes from the belief that we are under the Adam-curse to till the soil all the days of our life; from the false sense of responsibility; from the belief that at any moment the source of our supply may be cut off. And these errors are accentuated by the remembrance of those for whom we seem responsible, until so big may seem the problem that one can think of little else. Then, fear and doubt having closed our thought to the prompting of the "still small voice," day and night the problem looms until to the worried and harassed thought comes the clarion call of Christian Science, proclaiming that God made man in His image and likeness to have dominion over all the earth.
Dominion, liberty, freedom! Is this really true? Yes, we can take God into our business by taking our business to God. The understanding of God's presence and power, expressed in wisdom, intelligence, perspicacity, clears the mental horizon of fears and doubts; and gradually, as hope and faith are restored, confidence and assurance take their rightful place in our thinking, and spiritual dominion is established. Thus the false mortal sense of toil gives place to the glorious realization of active, true service. In reviewing this new freedom we see that it is not merely a lack of money, but rather a lack of understanding of God, that keeps one under the bondage of the material curse of tilling the soil.
It is significant that the first recorded healing by Jesus was that of lack, when at the feast in Cana of Galilee he turned the water into wine. Jesus' realization of God's abundance was so clear that he knew there was no other source of supply, and right there he drew upon the divine source, with the result that the servants poured water into the great pots, and then poured wine out of them. One striking point in this incident is the obedience of the servants to Jesus' command to fill the pots with water: they obeyed without argument or waste of time and energy. What a great asset is obedience!
To-day we need to obey Truth's demand and implicitly follow its leadings, not worrying unduly about being obedient to the so-called laws and beliefs of materiality, time, space, limitation, competition, all of which tend to limit one to the four walls of an office or shop, or a particular area or business house. In Proverbs is the statement, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." Vision accompanies obedience: one needs "the wide horizon's grander view," which looks beyond matter, the physical issue, beyond getting material success and gain, into the unlimited opportunities for service.
There are not two standards, one for business and another for church, home, and general living; one for Sunday, another for week days. A fountain, said James, cannot send forth both salt water and fresh. The Father's business is a whole-time business; every minute is of value, and has its rightful place. There is no time for dreaming, apathy, doubt, procrastination, or despondency. These archenemies of progress never brought forth any of the greater or lesser achievements of the world. Persistency and expectancy, however, coupled with what our Leader has called "the song of Christian Science," namely, "Work—work—work —watch and pray" (Message to The Mother Church for 1900, p. 2)— these bring true achievement and success. Obedience, vision, and work, then, are all necessary in the establishing in human experience of the Father's business.
