Each person is apt to regard as a necessity that which seems requisite for happiness or harmony. This leads him to believe that harmony or heaven is to be attained only by acquiring something which he seems to lack. To the thought uninstructed in Christian Science this something is quite likely to be finite and material. Refuting such a false concept, Mrs. Eddy has pointed out in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 560), that "the grand necessity of existence is to gain the true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of heaven in man."
This statement is in harmony with the teachings of Jesus. It is recorded in the Gospels that as he sat by the sea he related to his disciples and the throng that pressed him seven parables. Each of them, as a careful study reveals, illustrates a quality of thought to which the kingdom of heaven may be likened. Concluding this illuminating discourse Jesus said, "Every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." Would it not seem that to be "instructed unto the kingdom of heaven" is to gain in some degree the true idea of what constitutes that kingdom? Surely this true idea of heaven is a man's treasure! How shall he bring forth from it things "new and old"?
On page 283 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes, "We must receive the divine Principle in the understanding, and live it in daily life." Having received in the understanding the truth regarding the kingdom of heaven, a man brings forth or gives of this treasure as he lives truly. He gives to every daily experience the spiritual qualities that constitute his true being. He gives purity of thought although he is surrounded by the seeming confusion of mortal beliefs; he gives intelligence where ignorance seems to abound; he pours forth love in the face of animosity and hatred, and gives childlike trust in infinite good though confronted with the picture of poverty and disaster. Thus he maintains his integrity, retains a true sense of dominion, helps to establish the reign of harmony for himself and others, and is nourished and sustained by the unfailing affluence of God.
