Christian Scientists are learning to acknowledge God in all their ways and to be grateful, even in troublous experiences, that God is present to dissolve the darkness of mortal belief with the light of spiritual being. The prophet Malachi gave this message from God (3: 10): "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
God's invitation through the prophet, addressed not merely to the Israelites but to all who follow Christ, is to prove Him "now herewith." Not tomorrow, not next week, not even in an hour's time, but "now herewith"! So many times in the Bible and in the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, this little word "now" is used. A typical example is found in II Corinthians (6:2): "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." This is quoted several times by Mrs. Eddy; for instance in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," where she follows the quotation with the stirring declaration (p. 39), "Now is the time for so-called material pains and material pleasures to pass away, for both are unreal, because impossible in Science.'"
The ability to prove the goodness of God has, however, a condition: that we should first bring in our tithes, our sincere gratitude for the ever-present perfection and omnipotence of God, divine Love. Christian Scientists appreciate the fact that God is the only and constant source of all that is real and good and that man, God's image, cannot acquire or manifest what does not exist in God, such as diseases, discords, and other erroneous illusions of the carnal mind. Neither can man fail to enjoy what belongs to him by reflection, namely spiritual good, health, substance, happiness, emanating from his divine source, God.
