CHRISTIAN SCIENCE is teaching all who will listen the lesson of true giving and receiving. Regardless of his religious belief, anyone who has learned to sacrifice his sense of ease in matter, and to face the arguments and fears of a materially-minded world, in order to bring greater freedom to all, has touched Christ's robe and is thereby proving his usefulness to God and his fellow men.
When an individual first discerns the light of Truth, he may ask: "What can Christian Science give me? Shall I find in it health, peace, life eternal?" Truly, if we ask bread of our Father, He will not give us a stone. But the wise seeker learns that his venture will be successful when he comes serving, and asking, "What more can I give?" When the rich young ruler came to Jesus with the question, "What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" the Master told him to go and sell all that he had and give to the poor; and he said also, "Come, take up the cross, and follow me." Though the young ruler had obeyed the Commandments from his youth, yet he lacked the very necessary quality of giving—giving up a false sense of substance. More than that, he must follow Christ, which meant taking up the cross, subordinating his human will whenever it crossed with God's will.
The only reason for our withholding is a fear of loss of something dear to us—money, friends, position. Paul said, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ ... for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." Paul's conversion made a giver of him. He was a man of education and ability, but he gladly forfeited the good will of his friends, his social position, and all his worldly prospects in order to promote the cause of the Christ. This made him a good teacher, a good preacher, and a good healer.
