The study of Christian Science brings to light true values by awakening mankind to the need of weighing their thoughts and actions. God's standard of true values, such as truth and love, shines through the lens of Spirit, enabling each one of us to realize that matter is no thing and therefore has no value. We learn that materiality and its set of values disappear when we understand Spirit through the Science of Christianity.
"I will gain a balance on the side of good, my true being. This alone gives me the forces of God wherewith to overcome all error." So writes Mary Baker Eddy in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 104). If we place more value on spiritual ideas than we do on material things, we shall find our lives more concerned with the inspiration of Spirit.
The thought of humanity has advanced spiritually since the discovery of Christian Science. The many activities of The Mother Church are of great value to all who seek the truth. These activities are proving their worth in the world today. In our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy writes (p. 355): "What is the relative value of the two conflicting theories regarding Christian healing? One, according to the commands of our Master, heals the sick. The other, popular religion, declines to admit that Christ's religion has exercised any systematic healing power since the first century."
On which side of the balance do we place our thinking? Naturally, as Christian Scientists, we follow the Master, for healing the sick proves the presence of the Christ. One cannot overestimate the value of spiritual healing, for through it we "gain a balance on the side of good," of health and happiness. We read in the Bible (Ps. 103: 7), "He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel." Moses was called to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, out of the way of materiality. Because these people leaned toward matter instead of Spirit, they had difficulty conforming to the laws of God.
Today Christian Science is leading mankind upward out of the bondage of materiality by teaching the true value of spiritual thinking and living. The climb is sometimes steep and slow in the journey from sense to Soul. How often we hear the cry, "Oh, why do I have to suffer; why has this problem come to me?" Then mortal mind whispers: "Why not use a material remedy? It seems such a simple way." But mortal mind can only suggest such things; it has no real power, for power belongs to God. Material remedies have no real healing power, because mortal mind is their source.
Did not the children of Israel cry for the fleshpots of Egypt after their miraculous escape through the Red Sea? They needed to learn to balance values. They had to exchange self-will and faith in matter for obedience to God's will and trust in Spirit. It was essential for them to learn to manifest love, unselfishness, and humility in their relations with others. Very early in their travels they were near the promised land, but they declined to enter, for they were afraid that the enemy was too powerful for them. Disobedience to God's command caused them to remain forty years in the wilderness until thought awakened to the power of Spirit, God, to guide and protect them.
The writer had to learn to balance values. Before she studied Christian Science, material ways and means seemed to clutter her existence. She felt that only those things were right which were done the way she wished. Unkind criticism and impatience caused her much unhappiness. After she understood some of the truths of Spirit, she learned the value of Love as all-powerful and ever present. Through the years, her values have changed, and gentleness and love have proved of more value than force and dictatorial methods. She learned to gain a balance on the true side and saw evidence of the healing power of the Word of God.
In the Bible we read (Hebr. 4:12), "The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." The value of the Word of God to the Christian Scientist is in the healing power it supplies. The understanding of the value of the seven synonyms for God, given to us in Science and Health (p. 465), arouses us to a better realization of our true selves as God's reflection.
When we learn the value of Principle as God, we know that we are truly governed by God's law of Love. We try to exemplify more purity and perfection in our actions and to be more kind and loving in our dealings with others.
As we become conscious of the value of Mind as God, we appreciate the divine source of instruction and intelligently watch our thinking. We keep our balance on the spiritual side, away from the influence of carnal beliefs.
The value of understanding Soul as God is in the realization that Soul is not in body, but that we as God's ideas are embodied in Soul, not in matter. Thus we glorify God and are glorified of Him. When we learn the value of Spirit as God, our faith is enlarged to understanding, our conscience is purified, and our trust in material sense is lessened.
As we realize the value of understanding that God is Life, Truth, and Love, we discover that man is spiritual and that he always has lived. Consequently he expresses only love, activity, and perfection, for he is perpetually at one with his Father-Mother God. As we "gain a balance on the side of good," we find the inspired, holy view of harmonious being, the realm of the real, and move away from matter and death, sickness and sin, envy and hate. The inharmonious view of life apart from God then disappears. We should always look heavenward and walk in the path into which we have been guided, the holy way of God.
In "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" by Mrs. Eddy, we read (p. 226): "Withdraw God, divine Principle, from man and the universe, and man and the universe would no longer exist. But annihilate matter, and man and the universe would remain the forever fact, the spiritual 'substance of things hoped for;' and the evidence of the immortality of man and the cosmos is sustained by the intelligent divine Principle, Love." Our Leader then continues in the following paragraph, "Beloved students, in this you learn to hallow His name, even as you value His all-power, all-presence, all-Science, and depend on Him for your existence."
