The saintly prophets of Bible days were steadfast in their loyalty to God. They knew that to understand the requirements of the Most High was the beginning of wisdom and that obedience to divine law was the whole duty of mankind. From personal experience these righteous men could attest the simplicity and practicality of spiritual law and the necessity of fulfilling its mandates. For example, the prophet Micah clearly states the truth in these brief words (6:8): "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"
Blessed is each and every one who works to fulfill these requirements, for as in olden times, so today, all who pattern their lives by these simple rules of Life and Love can truly be said to walk and talk with God, good. Complete reliance on Spirit unfolds an ever-widening perception of Truth's power and presence and provides daily inspiration to seek new heights in the demonstration of God's will.
To glimpse the order of His will, supreme in earth as it is in heaven, is to understand something of divine reality, the truth of existence. Christian Science bases its teachings of causation on the spiritual account of creation in the first chapter of Genesis, where the operation of Mind is shown forth by the eternal unfolding of Mind's ideas. These countless spiritual ideas, the highest of which is individual man, express the nature, essence, and will of God. Through his oneness, or unity, with infinite Being, man forever reflects the all-knowing, all-directing all-acting Mind, God, and thus is forever fulfilling his divine office as the perfect representative of the eternal One. Since there is no other man, idea, or creation but the spiritual, no other law but the will of God, it is imperative that we think from this basis and demonstrate this truth, if we would reflect the Life divine.
In the second account of creation (beginning with Genesis 2:6), a material universe is depicted. It is the material concept of creation which is the false element in human consciousness, the state of mind which believes in a mixture of Spirit and matter, good and evil. Redemption from error comes as the individual begins to realize his own true selfhood in Science and learns what the one and only creator, Spirit, God, requires of him.
It is the human consciousness which the prophet Micah instructs in the basic requirements for redemption and freedom. It is to this same human consciousness that Christ Jesus made his appeal in his teaching and healing ministry. And it was to mankind that Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, devoted her life and discovery. Her explanation of God, Truth, as perfect Principle, Love, has opened the way for humanity to understand the nature of Mind's requirements and to demonstrate them. As the practice of divine justice, love, and humility becomes more universal, the dark, mystifying concepts of man and the universe will gradually disappear until consciousness becomes illumed with the full realization of the real man as the son of God.
There is much work to be done before humanity can completely give up its blind obedience to the false gods of materiality and fully accept the one and only true God, Spirit. Mortals would conform to Love's requirements if they knew how to do so; that is, if they knew how to substitute God's will for their own. Under the delusion that they are personal creators, they assign duties to themselves. They make laws for themselves and others which they believe to be honest and just and productive of good.
However, all too frequently only lip service is given to Deity, with little serious thought devoted to finding out what the Father of us all requires of His sons and daughters. Although man-made laws fail to produce the desired results—health, happiness, abundance—the cycle of self-will tends to go on and on. Finally, however, through either Christian Science or suffering, one is awakened from his self-imposed mesmerism. As he learns to "put on the new man" (Col.3:10) under the law of divine Principle, he henceforth strives to be obedient only to the will of God.
Christ Jesus did not make his own rules in the service of God. He knew that his orders came directly from Mind. He explained the point in these words (John 5:30): "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." Jesus made the conclusion inescapable that one's primary obligation is to know and to do the will of God. Thus he taught men to cease from living and doing things the hard way, the way of the willful mortal.
One of the great objectives of Christian Scientists is diligently to learn the nature of God's will and to know what constitutes their responsibilities and obligations to themselves and others. Their predominant desire is to obey God's will and to perform as best they can the duties which have been revealed to them. Many enlightening references concerning our duties to God, good, can be found in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy. On page 496 she makes this foundational statement: "You will learn that in Christian Science the first duty is to obey God, to have one Mind, and to love another as yourself."
To obey God, we must conform to righteousness and purity in thought and deed; we must humbly pursue our appointed tasks with kindness and patience, daily striving to pattern our lives after Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and increasingly to demonstrate in human affairs, the kingdom, the power, and the glory of the Christ, Truth.
Our Master recognized no source of wisdom and justice other than the one universal Mind, God. Through the Christ, which Jesus embodied, came the spiritual conviction that the one creative Mind could not be the Father of an assortment of minds, some brilliant, others dull, with all expressing gradations of justice, joy, purity, and success. Jesus proved his conviction by his victorious demonstration over sickness, sin, and death and removed all doubt as to the might and supremacy of the one Mind. The Mind of Jesus was the Mind that is Love, and it is our Mind—today and always. There is no other.
To love another as ourself seems difficult at times. But is it really hard to do—with the example of Jesus ever before us? We can prove that prejudices, jealousies, selfishness, and hate will vanish from thought like the illusions which they are, when the truth of divine Love is welcomed into the human heart. Love embraces all because it is All. In divine Principle, Love, there can be no split affections, for God is not partial in the love He bestows. Neither indeed can His reflection, man, be partial. The compassion, forbearance, and forgiveness we express toward another is a true measure of our love of infinite mercy, a measure of our understanding of what God requires of us.
We are required to perform faithfully the duty which lies nearest at hand, to manifest the activity which Mind, through prayer, has revealed to us. To human sense, the task may be only a word of comfort and cheer; it may be giving meat and drink to the stranger, clothes to the needy, ministering to the sick and those in the prison of their own making. It matters not whether the kindly deed of helping our brother is known and acknowledged by others. God knows it, for He knows and directs all good. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matt. 25:40). It is also helpful to remember that the requirements of God never impose a task without providing the wisdom and strength to see it completed. With the Apostle Paul we can say (Phil. 4:13), "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
Obedient to the exacting rule of justice, love, and humility, the Scientist grows in spirituality and true righteousness. He refuses to be alarmed by seeming setbacks, knowing that he cannot lose today the ground he won yesterday. His consistent study and successful practice of spiritual healing, both for himself and for others, are positive proofs that his thought is directed by the Christ within and that he understands in some degree what his creator requires of him.
And in doing all this, he is keeping faith with himself and is fulfilling the requirements of Christian Science, one of which is found in the sixth tenet (Science and Health, p. 497): "And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure."
