Working for oneself in Christian Science means prayerful communion with God and brings great joy. It is a joy which comes naturally with obedience to the By-Law given by our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, in the Manual of The Mother Church (Art. VIII, Sect. 4): "It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to pray each day: 'Thy kingdom come;' let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin; and may Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them!"
In this prayer we find ourselves directed to pray daily that God will govern us. We are told to ask that there be established in us "the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love." Is it not the duty and privilege of every Christian Scientist, according to his ability, to work out his own problems? Truth, Life, and Love alone should govern the Scientist. Let them rule out error!
Does this imply that one should never call upon another Christian Scientist for help? Not at all. When governed by divine Truth, Life, and Love, we learn that our needs are taken care of in the way we can most clearly understand at the moment. If humanly we need the help of a Christian Science practitioner, we can know that we shall be led to call for that help. If we are equipped to work out the problem without such help, we shall be guided to do that too.
Let us never agree with the lie that suggests we are too weak or inexperienced to be guided by Truth, Life, and Love or that we are too experienced to call upon another Christian Scientist for help. If we know enough to turn to God, we know all we need to know to heed divine direction and to follow God's guidance. "Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves" (Ps. 100:3).
Our capacity to learn from our Father-Mother God is given to us by Him. He is divine Truth, Life, and Love. And as Mrs. Eddy assures us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 494), "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need."
Prayer in Christian Science begins with God, acknowledging Him as Mind and then listening to Mind's direction. Next, the imperative rule is, What Mind says to do, do! We may be sure of one thing: infinite Mind, which is Truth, Life, and Love, will never guide according to a stereotyped pattern. What we are told to do will be fresh and new to human thought. It will be an idea that just came from God! Because it is of God, Mind, it will be too intelligent for error to combat.
In Isaiah we read God's promise (55:11), "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."
To the one working out his own problem perhaps the seemingly most potent suggestion of error is that of duration or persistence. The sickness that was here yesterday, it says, is still here today; and we seem to have run out of truth with which to handle it. But since God is All and is good, there is no disease. It did not exist yesterday; it does not exist today; and it cannot exist tomorrow.
Since God is the only Mind, there is no belief of disease yesterday, today, or tomorrow. Since God is Truth, there is no reality to disease yesterday, today, or tomorrow. Since God is Love, His child is eternally immune to disease. Nothing really persists, or exists, but God, good, and His idea, perfect, whole man.
Divine Love never causes suffering. But where the suffering seems to be, there Love presents an opportunity to gain a higher view of God's infinite goodness. The problem before us today has its solution in our following the wise behests of a loving teacher, God, divine Love. Part of the solution is completed when we gain a sense of the unreality of pain and burden.
As we seek only "the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love," we prove the nothingness of error, and discords disappear. A higher mountain means a more wonderful view, and the effort expended in the climb has its reward in a wider view of the countryside below.
How well I remember the thrill of the day my violin teacher told me I could begin work on Mendelssohn's Concerto! If I had been seeking ease in my music making, I would have been despondent at this announcement. It meant weeks and months of toil and struggle. But I was overjoyed. My teacher thought me ready for this experience! Every problem in Christian Science is like that.
Equipped with an understanding of divine Love, we are ready, not for evil, but for joyful demonstration of the reign of divine Mind. The reward is a new sense of freedom and dominion known only to one who is aware of himself as the reflection of Almighty God. When we are supported by this sense of freedom and dominion, the problem is solved; the disease is healed.
Even though a physical ailment may seem to linger, each day's problem is a new one. It has no history except in the time it takes mortal mind to be conscious of it. The image on a motion-picture screen may seem to show a man developing from youth to old age. Yet at any one moment the picture on the screen is actually only as old as the time it takes the light to travel from the projector. Cut off the light, and the image is gone.
Mortal mind is the counterfeit of the divine Mind. It claims to know itself and calls its false mental images man. But what it sees is not man; it is its own false selfhood, named matter. The disease which seems to exist in matter is but a phase of mortal mind's image.
When we realize the all-presence and all-substance of the divine Mind, disease is eliminated from consciousness and therefore from the body. Through such a process, Christian Science shows man to be not the material image of mortal mind, but the spiritual image of the divine Mind. And how wonderful to know that it takes no longer for divine Mind to manifest its perfect image than it takes this Mind to be conscious of its own being!
In working for oneself, one must make one's prayer consistent with the knowledge that evil has no actual history. When we have declared the nothingness of a physical condition to the point of its extinction from thought and when we have replaced it with the true image of Mind, consistency demands that this process be not repeated. It is done! The important thing about the healing idea that came yesterday is that its coming proved Mind ever present and ready to supply the right idea for every occasion. Today is a new occasion. Let the new idea turn us to Mind, and let us trust Mind to sustain us.
As children of the one Mind, we express the health that belongs to God. The individual makes his claim to this heritage as he works for himself in Christian Science. He earns the right to this heritage as he utilizes actively the means provided for him through the Bible and our Leader's writings to overcome the false claims of material sense.
The precious verses of the Old and the New Testament and the inspired lines of Science and Health are like direction signs. Merely reading or memorizing or repeating a direction sign will not get us to where we are going. We must go!
One must work for himself. Whether the condition be a gradually developing error or a dire emergency, the Christian Scientist will turn first to Mind. He will hear what Mind says, and he will obey. If he calls for help from a practitioner, he still takes positive mental action on his own part under Mind's direction. He remains obedient to Mind alone. In so doing, he is assured of success, according to the words of St. Paul (Phil. 2:12, 13): "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
