No one is ever deprived of the opportunity to learn more of God and His Christ; therefore, no one ever has to be deprived of joy. Desire—yes, even craving—to know God safeguards joy. "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord" Ps. 84:1, 2. describes the quality of heart that will rejoice no matter how difficult the lessons to be mastered. "Your joy no man taketh from you," John 16:22. said Christ Jesus as he prepared his disciples for his departure and the Comforter's eventual arrival.
With the coming of the Comforter, divine Science, the world can now understand why it is impossible ever to lose the Christ. Love's ever-operating law, revealed through Christian Science, enables each of us to prove the continuing presence of the Christ-power—the power that was the foundation of Jesus' healing works. Whatever the problem, at bottom it represents ignorance in some degree of God's true nature. The only possible solution, therefore, is correction of this misunderstanding. If we continue to have physical healing or the pacifying of human will as our main purpose, neither healing nor joy can establish itself. We ask amiss if our desire is anything other than to understand and live more of God's will and to discern how, in each instance, He is accomplishing His divine purpose.
What we need to acquire is determined by where we seem to be on the ladder of spiritual development, or, to put it differently, at what stage we seem to be in our spiritual rebirth. No one is ever too advanced to be beyond the need for more such learning. Even after his resurrection Jesus continued to grow spiritually. Only after all mortal sense had dropped away was he ready to ascend.
