Today the world appears to face the threat of grave danger on the one hand and the promise of great good on the other. Mankind find that contemplation of the danger results in fear, while expectation or possession of what is good or greatly desired brings joy. Every individual really prefers to feel joy at all times, but this state of thought may seem precarious or even unattainable in view of threatening world conditions. Many people feel that restoration and establishment of a joyous state of thought depend on an improvement in human conditions, but according to Christian Science just the reverse is true.
This Science teaches that any discord or blight in one's experience is but the outward manifestation of one's joyless thinking. The prophet Joel pointed out the remedy when he declared, "Fear not. O land; be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things."Joel 2:21; Apparently he knew that rejoicing must precede any outward change; and his counsel is as urgent and as applicable today as it was then.
The need for obeying this counsel appears to be more widely recognized than is the knowledge of how to obey it. Christian Science makes this knowledge readily available, explaining how the spiritual understanding of Bible commands and promises, when prayerfully applied to today's problems, is the only practical and certain way to solve these problems. It shows how to overcome fear and how to establish joy on a firm basis.
