For many years I was perplexed by Mary Baker Eddy’s description of the “test of prayer” in her chapter on “Prayer” in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures because I thought the test would be something like an instantaneous healing.
Instead, Mary Baker Eddy gives this description: “The test of all prayer lies in the answer to these questions: Do we love our neighbor better because of this asking? Do we pursue the old selfishness, satisfied with having prayed for something better, though we give no evidence of the sincerity of our requests by living consistently with our prayer? If selfishness has given place to kindness, we shall regard our neighbor unselfishly, and bless them that curse us; but we shall never meet this great duty simply by asking that it may be done. There is a cross to be taken up before we can enjoy the fruition of our hope and faith” (Science and Health, p. 9).
Then it struck me that Mary Baker Eddy is asking for reformation of character through prayer; for the petitioner to become more Godlike, more of a Christian, where all that is unlike God begins to disappear from our lives, rather than our just experiencing relief from the mental or physical discomfort we encounter.
