Truth is substance. Jesus said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." It is noteworthy that Jesus did not say, Ye shall know about the truth, but he clearly admonished us to "know the truth." Only spiritual knowing can make free. The spiritual truth that one knows is expressed in one's being; indeed, it is one's being. So to know Truth, which is God, is to find our real identity as God's idea. To identify oneself thus nullifies and expels anything and everything unlike Truth. It is the means of destroying the untrue, the unreal, and the substanceless—that which, being a counterfeit, is nought.
This correlation of knowing and being, or being what one is knowing, explains why the Lesson-Sermon should be studied and made one's own, and not just passed over quickly with a cursory reading. Mary Baker Eddy, in referring to her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," writes (p. 559): "Read this book from beginning to end. Study it, ponder it." Here she declares plainly that reading is preliminary to study, and study is the way of learning. Have we not all caught ourselves saying, "I went over my Lesson," or, "I went through my Lesson"? How much better it would be if we were always able to say truthfully, "I am studying the Lesson; I am practicing the Lesson."
Study and learning go hand in hand with practice. For example: what we learn in cooking school we practice in our kitchens; what we learn of Christian Science in Sunday school we should practice during the week; and what we learn through the daily study of the Lesson-Sermon we should live throughout the day. An eager, receptive, joy-expectant attitude of thought toward the Lesson-Sermons ensures growth. This growth means progress in Christian Science, and that always entails healing.
