ONLY as the false corporeal sense of self is sacrificed can the kingdom of God appear. This great fact may not readily be grasped by the so-called human mind, filled as it is with the false pains and pleasures of material sense. Yet a search into the lives of the world's great men and women will reveal, perhaps without exception, that those who have felt real joy are those who have rendered self-sacrificing service of some kind to their fellow men. Unquestionably, too, it will be discovered that with many this service has been inspired by and actuated through their love for God, good.
We are learning in Christian Science that true service begins with love for God; that the clearer our understanding of God the purer our love for Him; that the more we love Him the better we serve Him; and that the better we love and serve Him the greater the love and service we are able to render to our fellow men.
Christ Jesus understood God and loved Him supremely. He thus understood and expressed service more fully and completely than all others. There is nothing that can approach the splendor of his conscious dominion in the kingdom of righteousness. "Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am," he said to his disciples. Yet he said again: "I am among you as he that serveth. . . . And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me."
