When Moses was called of God to lead the Israelites out of their bondage to the Egyptians, the people faltered many times in their journey. At one such time Moses heard the command from God, "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward."Ex. 14:15; There were many wonderful proofs of God's guidance and loving care in the years that followed, until the Israelites, under the leadership of Joshua, crossed the River Jordan on dry ground (see Josh. 3:17), won the city of Jericho after encircling it seven times (see Josh. 6: 15, 20), and went in to possess the land of Canaan, which God had promised them.
The wilderness journey of the Israelites out of Egypt symbolizes our journey out of the wilderness of materiality, when we yearn for spiritual satisfaction. Christian Science satisfies this yearning. Deep desire for growth in our study and application of Christian Science follows. Faithfulness determines our progress. Moses was faithful in his obedience to God's guidance; so was Joshua; and they commanded the Israelites, likewise, to be faithful in their allegiance to God. In Deuteronomy we read Moses' words: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."Deut. 6:4, 5;
To love God with all our heart, soul, and might is actually to feel His all-power and all-presence. This is true prayer. Christ Jesus prayed daily, hourly, and his prayers, humble acknowledgments of his oneness with God, were answered in healing all those who came to him for help. To go forward in our healing ministry as Christian Scientists, we too must pray continually for an expanding understanding of our nearness to our divine source. We must discipline our thinking. Mrs. Eddy writes, "Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts."Science and Health, p. 261;
Since God is Mind, true thoughts come directly from Him. When we understand that man is God's image and likeness, His reflection, we are able to obey the injunction in the Bible, "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."Phil. 4:8; We must be willing to overcome every temptation to wander into the bypaths of mortal thinking. Thoughts of envy, jealousy, harshness, selfishness, discouragement, unkindness, criticism, egotism, do not come from God. They are deterrents to progress, and they must be routed out of thought and speech if we would go forward.
Into the experience of every Christian Scientist at some time comes the command to enlarge his concepts, to outgrow past binding, limited viewpoints, to expand his thinking. It is not impossible that this is what the prophet Isaiah meant when he counseled the people, "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes."Isa. 54:2; He adds, "For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left."
God has endowed us with spiritual understanding, but we must claim it and many times pray for it. False reasoning, which would limit our footsteps Spiritward, must be denied entrance into our mental home. We cannot serve two masters. Either Spirit or matter is occupying thought.
Our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, has provided many helps for us in our journey out of material beliefs. Among them she has given us our precious textbook, Science and Health, a daily guide, and has supplied us with the Christian Science Quarterly, containing the Lesson-Sermons. Through the study of the lessons the Christian Scientist finds the Bible becoming a daily guide for instruction and its promises practical in daily experience. Our Leader also has provided for regular Wednesday testimony meetings, where experiences of healing in Christian Science are shared.
Mrs. Eddy founded the Christian Science periodicals, with their inspiring messages, and every home where these messengers are allowed entrance is happier, more harmonious, and blessed. Each periodical has a God-ordained purpose. In the leading editorial in Volume 1, Number 1, of The Christian Science Monitor Mrs. Eddy wrote: "I have given the name to all the Christian Science periodicals. The first was The Christian Science Journal, designed to put on record the divine Science of Truth; the second I entitled Sentinel, intended to hold guard over Truth, Life, and Love; the third, Der Herold der Christian Science, to proclaim the universal activity and availability of Truth; the next I named Monitor, to spread undivided the Science that operates unspent. The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind."The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 353;
The Christian Scientist who would go forward avails himself of these precious periodicals and their healing messages, which supplement but do not take the place of the daily study of the Bible Lessons.
The Christian Science movement moves forward, and each earnest student goes forward with it. The application of its truths in his own experience and the joyous acceptance of each opportunity provided by our Leader in her complete work to establish Christian Science with The Mother Church and its branches throughout the world are for Christian Scientists joyous milestones and happifying forward steps.
To go forward is to journey Spiritward. This is a journey out of materiality and its false dreams. We cannot go backward, but always the command to go forward is with us. And as we do so, we journey into a promised land of ever-unfolding ideas and into the recognition of our sonship with God. God tenderly reveals Himself to us, and we are safe in His care during the entire journey.
Mrs. Eddy says in the textbook: "As the children of Israel were guided triumphantly through the Red Sea, the dark ebbing and flowing tides of human fear,—as they were led through the wilderness, walking wearily through the great desert of human hopes, and anticipating the promised joy,—so shall the spiritual idea guide all right desires in their passage from sense to Soul, from a material sense of existence to the spiritual, up to the glory prepared for them who love God. Stately Science pauses not, but moves before them, a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, leading to divine heights."Science and Health, p. 566.
Is there anything for us to do other than what Moses told the children of Israel to do—"go forward"?
