There is no lack in the infinitude of God's ever-present abundance. Lack is a lie about the true state of being. Prayer in Christian Science does not endeavor to change the perfect, true state of being which God created; but prayer, that is, the realization of the truth, can correct the false concept, and this is all that ever needs changing.
Truth always corrects error, even as light always destroys darkness. The Truth necessary to correct the misconception of lack is constantly available. This Truth is the Christ, which Jesus exemplified. It was the purpose of Christ Jesus to destroy the erroneous, limiting beliefs of mortal sense by teaching and proving the true nature of God. With the pure idea of abundance, the Christ, Truth, refutes the limited false concepts of lack within the human consciousness.
In the Bible what a wonderful example we have of the Christ, God's idea, correcting the erroneous belief of lack! John records in his Gospel that when a vast multitude had followed Jesus, he asked Philip, one of the disciples, how the great company could be fed. Philip contended that even two hundred pennyworth of bread would be insufficient. Andrew pointed out that there was present a lad who had two small fishes and five barley loaves with him, but dismissed this amount as being completely inadequate.
Nevertheless, Jesus accepted the loaves and fishes and expressed thanks to God. But surely he did not accept a limited quantity of food as the true measure of God's infinite abundance, nor did he express gratitude in advance with an expectation of good to come. Rather, was not his gratitude a recognition of the divine idea of abundance already at hand? The true idea of infinite substance was not in the number of loaves, but in the all-sufficiency of the idea which the loaves and fishes represented. This idea is inexhaustible.
Jesus exchanged a limited object of sense for an infinite idea, and by so doing abundance was manifested in the human experience. His spiritual understanding enabled him to reverse the material belief and recognize the idea of the boundless supply of infinite Spirit, which the few loaves represented.
In "Miscellaneous Writings," Mrs. Eddy says (pp. 60, 61), "Every material belief hints the existence of spiritual reality; and if mortals are instructed in spiritual things, it will be seen that material belief, in all its manifestations, reversed, will be found the type and representative of verities priceless, eternal, and just at hand."
An idea cannot be limited. An idea cannot be compressed into a finite material form, be it bread or a dollar. Material things are counterfeits of the idea of substance. But as thought is spiritualized, one's concept of substance improves, and the effect is increased supply. As infinite Mind is acknowledged to be the only Mind, one's limited concept of supply yields to the infinite idea.
Although it is generally accepted that an individual must acquire supply, the fact is that he needs only the right idea, which corrects the belief of lack. God, divine Mind, gives us for each occasion the all-sufficient Christ-idea, which comes to the human consciousness to correct the false concept of lack and to reveal His ever-present goodness. On page 494 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy writes, "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need."
God is Spirit and cannot supply mankind with material things, for there is nothing in Spirit from which matter can emanate. But divine Mind does supply ideas, and an understanding of the idea of Love's goodness results in what appears humanly as abundant supply.
Man, the image and likeness of God, doesn't need to acquire ideas or qualities, because he already possesses all by reflecting God. Jesus said, "All things that the Father hath are mine" (John 16:15). Mrs. Eddy says of man, "He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas" (Science and Health, p. 475). Man's very existence includes all that God expresses. Furthermore, man cannot be cut off from or deprived of what constitutes his very being as God's expression.
A Christian Scientist was one of a party of three on a geological field trip in the southwestern part of the United States. They were working in a remote desert area and carried only enough water to last a few days because they expected to locate water in the region. However, after two days of fruitless searching for it, they agreed that they had no choice but to return to civilization the following morning.
That evening the Christian Scientist turned to God in prayer. He recalled that the Israelites in the wilderness had been in need of water and that God had instructed Moses to smite the rock so that water would flow out of it. The Christian Scientist reasoned that any law of God which was in effect at the time of Moses must still be in effect now. This is true of the law through which divine Principle, Love, meets every human need with the all-sufficient right idea. This idea was recognized by the Christian Scientist as the simple fact that since God is all-presence, there can be no void.
The following morning before the party was to break camp, the Scientist decided to look once more for water. He wandered into a canyon near the camp. His eye fell on a patch of green moss, about the size of his fingertip, growing in a crevice of a rock. Finding the moss damp, he struck the crevice with his handpick, and in a few moments, there was more good water flowing from the rock than they could possibly use, and it continued to flow the entire time they needed it.
How gratifying it is to know that today many Christian Scientists are proving that God's law is operative and practical in today's world and that His love is constantly expressed through the Christ-idea, which meets the human need.
As Paul has written (Phil. 4:19), "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
