Doing Our Best SAMUEL GREENWOOD, CSB          It is a confession of half-heartedness, in seeking the kingdom of God, that we are so easily satisfied with being and doing less than our best. It may be that we do not yet fully appreciate the fact, in all its bearings upon our experience, that the sense of evil will not be overcome, so far as we are concerned, until we overcome it; and that we can overcome it only through the power of good, not in any abstract sense, but through our own individual consciousness and demonstration. Thinking to do our work in what may seem the easiest rather than the best way, often means that our work is not done acceptably, which practically means that it is not done at all; and our efforts must therefore be repeated. This becomes evident when we remember that no imperfect work or uncorrected error can be left behind in one's progress Godward. Sooner or later each must overcome the sense of evil in himself, not at one stroke or in one day, but through what the apostle describes as "patient continuance in well doing;" that is, doing the best we can all the time.          Behind all one's business, family, and social relations stands the unchanging divine demand for righteousness, for right thinking and right doing, which relatively means our best thinking and best doing. While we may not at the present time be equal to the demonstration of perfection, there is always a nearest point which we are capable of attaining, and this nearest point to perfection is the best that lies within our reach today, and to reach it is therefore today's problem. Neglecting to accomplish this best possible good, is virtually to give place to evil to that extent; and if this is repeated day after day, each day doing a little less than we might, it is inevitable that an accumulation of unused privilege will confront us when we most need the spiritual strength of which our remissness has deprived us. As our Leader has expressed it, "Unimproved opportunities will rebuke us when we attempt to claim the benefits of an experience we have not made our own" (Science and Health, p. 238).          There is always a best way to think or speak or act, and one is not justified in stopping short of that. So many wrong things are thought, said, and done on the impulse of the moment, before one takes time to consider whether the impulse is human or divine, that it becomes simple wisdom to keep one's better self always to the front and on the alert to discover and follow the divine way. To set ourselves steadfastly to do the very best we can, not what we think we can, would lift us beyond present achievement and into a higher realization of man's unity with God. This opportunity to hasten a nearer approximation to the perfect ideal or Christ-man is too obviously open to each one to be lightly or thoughtlessly disregarded. To neglect any available means of spiritual advancement is to linger in needless conflict or agreement with false sense, and it practically amounts to deliberate choice to be not as good as it is our privilege to be. In other words, though we might hesitate to put it in just that way, we lazily prefer to remain a little longer in the grasp of false belief, rather than to work a little harder than we are now doing.          Comparatively few rise each day to their highest possible understanding of the allness of God, and they therefore fail to accomplish their full capacity in right doing. Comparatively few are as loving and just and honest and kind as they are capable of being. We suffer conditions to remain in consciousness which we know are not good, and which we know we can get rid of, and thus grow, perhaps unwittingly, into a sense of tolerance towards evil which amounts to a virtual acceptance of its claims. We all know that this is so, and that with a little more earnestness and real effort we could accomplish more in the working out of our salvation, and consequently more for the good of mankind. Why, then, is it that we do not desire to do better, with the means that are at our hand? or are we satisfied to remain so much longer in the illusion of material sense? Coming face to face with this realization, as we must, how can we ask God for a fuller consciousness of His presence and power than we are willing to strive for? Or how can we expect Truth to respond more quickly to our declarations, while we are content to be slow in meeting its demands?          Mrs. Eddy teaches that in Christian Science "a perfect Principle and idea, — perfect God and perfect man" is "the basis of thought and demonstration" (Science and Health, p. 259). This should impel Christian Scientists to test their highest capacity in proving man's perfectibility. There is danger of resting too much on the hope of future progress, or of going to the other extreme of mourning over past failure. It is the work of today which decides the progress of tomorrow, hence the importance that today's work shall be done today. When we are willing not to overcome all the error that we may, to do less than God sets before us, it means a dropping behind in the struggle that we shall find it difficult to catch up with. In our spiritual work, mental idleness has its root in love of materiality. That we do not bring the very best we have into God's service, or put forth our best efforts in the overcoming of evil, must surely be that the things of time and of material sense are permitted to hold too high a place in our thoughts and affections.          "A grain of Christian Science does wonders for mortals," writes Mrs. Eddy, but she straightway adds that "more of Christian Science must be gained in order to continue in well doing" (Science and Health, p. 449). In the exuberance of the student's first joy over his new-found freedom it may have seemed comparatively easy to heal the sick, but all must at some time meet the demand above referred to and gain "more of Christian Science." We must work out the problem of being faithful to our highest capabilities, of being more obedient to Truth and less submissive to the claims of error, if we would be found meeting the demands which this advancing age will make upon Christian Scientists. There is no doubt that many of us would today have a clearer consciousness of man's dominion as the son of God, if we had always been true to our understanding of Christian Science, and had always been in all circumstances the best Christian Scientists we knew how to be.          If we heed the apostle's injunction and "do all to the glory of God," we shall be found seeking the best way to do things. After we have yielded to the evil suggestion, after the hateful thought and unloving word, we realize, perhaps in tears, how much better we could have done; but it is our privilege to think of this first, and so forestall the evil. In our association with others are we as careful as we might be to treat them with the best we have? Do we give them all the love we can? Are we doing our utmost for the cause of Christian Science, and so helping on the redemption of mankind? Are we doing our best in the Wednesday evening meetings, and so helping some weary pilgrim to find the way to health and peace? Or is it the best that we can do to criticize instead of to lend a helping hand; to cherish resentment instead of love; to leave most of the burden to others instead of being willing to do our own full share; to sit down in discouragement over our failures instead of increasing our efforts to apprehend the truth of God's omnipotence?          Christian Science, the demonstrable truth of the infinity of good, is the very best that has come or that can come to the human consciousness, and its natural effect is to bring out the best in its students. Christian Scientists must remember that they stand for the best in everything, and for the doing of things in the best way. They stand preeminently for the reign of righteousness, for the allness of good, and for the religion of love. They stand in avowed opposition to all that would obstruct human progress toward the kingdom of heaven, and in avowed alignment with all that tends to spiritualize and uplift mankind. This being so, does not God rightly demand of us that each day, and in all that we find to do, we shall not stop short of the best that lies within us?   "Doing Our Best" by Samuel Greenwood, CSB Christian Science Sentinel, January 11, 1913

 

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