In Jesus' parable of the prodigal son recorded in the fifteenth chapter of Luke's Gospel, we read of a father who had two sons. The younger son requested that his father give him "the portion of goods" which were his by inheritance. This was granted, "and not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living."
How often in human experience are men deceived into believing that matter is substance, and that happiness, opportunity, and fulfillment are to be found in it! But, after much heartbreaking effort in the wrong direction, they awake only to find themselves faced with discouragement and self-condemnation.
Once this state of thought has been accepted, they may be further tempted to partake of the husks of self-pity, fear, and despair. They find at last, even as did the prodigal, that the substance which meets the needs of men, bringing freedom, joy, peace, and lasting happiness, is not to be found in materiality. Only in divine Science, or Christian Science, is to be found the understanding which reveals the true source of all good to be God, and enables men to recognize their true heritage as the sons of God, even as did the prodigal, who, we read, "came to himself."
