The decisions we make today will in a large measure determine our peace, health, happiness, and prosperity tomorrow. To obtain the highest good individually and collectively, our decisions must be right, based upon divine Principle. Decisions based upon human will, motivated by selfishness and misguided reason, are never reliable and do not produce the fruits of the Spirit. The writer of Proverbs, inspired by divine wisdom, said (Prov. 3:5, 6): "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
Right decisions are God-inspired, God-protected, and God-directed. If we are to emerge from the beliefs of the flesh into the undying realities of Spirit, we must daily decide between Spirit and matter, Truth and error, health and disease, Life and death, and put the weight of our thinking on the side of the spiritual and eternal. We must take up our cross and follow the Christ by demonstrating in our daily conversation and living the healing power of divine Science. No decision is effective unless it is carried out. There must be joyous, willing obedience to divine law. Obedience hedged about with hesitations, reluctance, and reservations is merely outward compliance with the law; it lacks the spirit of real obedience with its infinite blessings.
The first and most important decision for any individual or nation to make is to have one God, one Mind, one Life, Truth, and Love, as the Scriptures demand. When we have made this decision we have taken the first step in keeping the First Commandment. Then it will follow logically and naturally that we shall love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus set the example for us. He claimed no existence, no Life, no Truth, no Love, no goodness, apart from his Father. His consciousness of man's inseparability from his Father made it possible for him to teach "as one having authority;" to feel no hate for his brutal persecutors and have no desire for reprisal; and to rise as victor over death and the grave. He taught and exemplified man's unity with God by reflecting Life, Truth, and Love, healing the sick and raising the dead. What he did he said his followers could do also. Whether we do it or not is a decision we alone can make; no one else can make it for us.
