A Family of Christian Scientists live at a busy intersection. The street in front of the house is wide and well paved, and it has gradually become a main thoroughfare. The intersection is formed by the crossing of the thoroughfare with a winding road which comes up a hill out of a park past the side of the house. During rush hours many drivers used to take the short cut through the park despite the fact that it was difficult to break into the main artery or even to cut across it. The traffic increased so imperceptibly that it was not until several mishaps occurred that the city officials became aware of the need for control. Then a light was installed and order reigned. Each driver could tell by the signal just what he was supposed to do. Likewise, pedestrians were provided for, and even children on bicycles, as well as those on roller skates, found safety in obeying the light signals.
The Christian Scientists in reviewing this transformation concluded that the first and most important step in developing orderliness is the realization that some control is necessary. Then it came to them that if control is necessary in mundane things, it is even more essential in the demonstration of spiritual reality. Then is it not logical that the first step in the experience of every Christian Scientist is the realization that he of himself is not sufficient, but that he needs God's control? Surely a light is necessary to guide, to indicate when to go forward, when to be still and wait. Right reasoning also indicates that if a signal is necessary, then one must be available, for does not God, our heavenly Father, supply our every need through the Christ?
If we have a conviction that a divine light is necessary and that one is available, then we must search for it, and while searching we should pray, as did the Psalmist (Ps. 43:3), "O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles." Jesus points out the light. He said (John 8:12), "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." Jesus did not mean that he personally was the light, but that the Christ, which he presented, is "the light of the world." In another instance, to emphasize this point, Jesus used almost the same words. When he brought light to the man born blind he said (John 9:5), "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Again, Jesus did not mean that he personally was "the light of the world," but that the Christ, Truth, which he taught and scientifically demonstrated, is the guiding light.
