In the Bible story of Abraham and Isaac, Abraham lays his own son on an altar as a human sacrifice.See Gen. 22: 1-13; Beyond the strong pagan belief of Abraham's time that a god required sacrifice of things very dear as a proof of absolute fidelity, can we discern a spiritual lesson? In this special test of courage, Abraham shows us that human love can be elevated to an awareness of the divine. And he also shows us how to exchange our highest human concept of good for the understanding of perfect Love, which is God.
For a time it must have been Abraham's highest understanding of God's will to sacrifice his child. But of course God does not require us to sacrifice anything genuinely good. Only our material concepts of good have to be surrendered. Mortal mind would have us believe that what we love is finitely personal, destructible, encased in matter. But we need to have greater trust in God than in what mortal mind says, and this willingness brings healing.
How would we respond if asked to offer "Isaac"—give up a personal sense of good? Would we be willing to put that personal sense aside and embrace God with our whole heart? This is what Abraham did. He put Principle above all human considerations. Certainly, the divine concept that there is but one God was breaking through in Abraham's desire to be obedient. Mrs. Eddy writes, "We should examine ourselves and learn what is the affection and purpose of the heart, for in this way only can we learn what we honestly are."Science and Health, p. 8;
