Working for God KATHERINE E. VARGA          Every Christian Scientist knows what it is to have a Bible verse, a line from one of the hymns, or a passage from one of Mrs. Eddy's writings come to him over and over, just seeming to sing itself into the thought, even when the person is busy with other things. As these messages come from Truth and Love, and we welcome them, the word angel comes to us in connection therewith; for we know they are God's thoughts passing to us through these channels of inspiration.          To one student this better understanding of the word angel, gained through the study of Christian Science, has been of no small value; for before, angels had been simply flying feathered creatures. When a child, and later, she would as soon have seen a grizzly bear approaching as a winged angel, and there was no desire to see one either coming to her or passing to anyone else. Now, because of the right concept held, she prays daily that angels, which are defined on page 581 of Science and Health as "God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect," may constantly dwell with her. One evening at a testimony meeting a woman gave an experience, telling of protection coming to her through a certain verse of Scripture. She lived out in the country, and had gone into town to do some shopping one day. In the midst of her shopping the first verse of the ninety-first psalm came to her distinctly. She did not give it any special attention, but it came again, and that time she paused and thought, "Why, that is from the ninety-first psalm and stands for protection." Affirming her right as God's child to that protection, no more thought was given the incident, until on arriving home she found in the door a skeleton key which had broken off.          Recently part of a passage from Mrs. Eddy's "Miscellaneous Writings" came to the writer over and over again. For about a week it kept repeating itself, "Never ill-humored, never unready to work for God" (p. 116), until it began to sound rather monotonous. Finally she decided that she needed to give the passage some consideration, and she began to do so. "Never ill-humored" was plain enough, and was hastily passed over. She knew what she needed in that respect was not more knowledge, but practice of that which she already possessed. But "never unready to work for God" was more gladly considered. Was she not almost invariably at the church services? And since there was a distance of twelve miles to go, over roads that were often bad, surely this was working hard for God. How eagerly the periodicals were read by her, — and was any effort too great for her to make to get to a Christian Science lecture? For some time mortal mind dwelt on this pleasing picture, but it was finally left behind; for deep in her heart the student wanted to serve God in His way, and she knew she would be given more light on the subject when she desired it earnestly enough.          She then began to ponder the word work. Work in the home meant largely the correcting of wrong conditions. Disorder must be replaced by order, and so on. It was giving, not receiving, and required some effort. The much loved services and lectures, the helpful literature, were plainly gifts from the Father, and could the acceptance of Love's gifts be construed to be work? Suppose a man was offered a million dollars if he would come for it. It was his for the coming, and if he said, or even thought, that he had worked for that money, how would his attitude be regarded? What if a Christian Scientist did show a reasonable amount of activity when it came to receiving spiritual good? Was that working for God?          When this particular student had cleared away a little of her own self-righteousness, these words from Science and Health (p. 182) came, answering the question: "The demands of God appeal to thought only." Evidently then it all had to do with her thoughts, and "never unready to work for God" resolved itself into never unwilling to replace the wrong thought with the right. The above statement from Science and Health is one which gave her the greatest rebuke to error of any that our textbook contains, and so at least one individual was, by the timely remembrance of it, made to realize that she had indeed received much, but she could not vainly imagine that receiving would take the place of giving. She also saw that this giving must consist of the giving out of true thoughts constantly, so that daily she could say with more and more honesty that she was endeavoring to make her own the song of Christian Science which Mrs. Eddy gave in her Message to The Mother Church for 1900 (p. 2): "Work — work — work — watch and pray."   "Working for God" by Katherine E. Varga Christian Science Sentinel, July 6, 1918

 

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