FAITH, anchored in a spiritual understanding of God, is necessary if we are properly to apply God's law to our human problems. In his Epistle, James asked, "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?" (James 2: 14.) The faith that does not produce right results must be merely a belief in God. But the faith that has "works" is knowledge of that which is founded on spiritual understanding, the provable scientific facts. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health (p. 23), "Faith, if it be mere belief, is as a pendulum swinging between nothing and something, having no fixity."
One could believe for an indefinite time that two and two are four, but without direct application of this fact to a mathematical problem, he would have no actual proof of the accuracy of the statement. Just as the science of mathematics must be utilized to be proved, so must we utilize the Science of Christianity. Faith must be anchored in an understanding of God, be unwavering, and strictly adhered to if we would find the scientific solution to our everyday problems.
The application of law logically follows the understanding of law. On Mount Sinai, God revealed to Moses the Ten Commandments or laws which are to be understood and utilized, for they are the basis of Christian ethics and morals. We must understand and obey these laws, if they are to become effective to us. The First Commandment demands that we acknowledge but one God. Christ Jesus emphasized the importance of radically obeying this commandment when he said: "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matt. 6:24). Thus, it is impossible to demonstrate the laws of God if one swings back and forth between matter and Spirit, for matter, being limited and destructible, is the opposite of Spirit.
