A QUESTION which the Christian Scientist is constantly putting to himself is, Where do I stand spiritually? What prompts the question? The understanding of the spiritual nature of man, which Christian Science has given him; the knowledge of the falsity of material sense; the conviction that only by losing erroneous material beliefs, including the false sense of a mortal selfhood, can he increasingly gain the true sense of his real spiritual identity. Christian Science has taught him that man is spiritual, not material, and that his duty is to demonstrate this truth. It has given him an ideal, which he has ever before his thought; and this ideal he is striving to work out in life-practice.
There are certain tests which the student of Christian Science may apply to himself in order to ascertain where he stands spiritually. First, there is the test of service. And what is service as Christian Science regards it? The answer is to be found in the words of Christ Jesus. In Luke's Gospel (22:24, 26) it is recorded that the Master said to the disciples, among whom had arisen a strife as to "which of them should be accounted the greatest," "He that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve;" and (27), "I am among you as he that serveth." His teaching held service before his followers as an essential of Christian living, and all his works testified to his own obedience to this ideal. One of his last deeds, his submission to crucifixion, was a supreme act of service to mankind, since by it he demonstrated to them the eternal nature of life, the immortality of man.
What was it that inspired the Way-shower in his desire to serve mankind? There can be no doubt as to the answer: it was his love for God and man. Jesus' love for God never wavered. He knew that God was his Father, with all that the word "Father" implied of tenderness, watchfulness, and care. He knew that God is the Father of all men in their true being, and that they all have the same relationship to God as he himself had. It was this understanding that inspired his desire to bring home to mortals the truth which supported him, and which endowed him with power to do the marvelous works of healing which characterized his ministry.
