Wherewithal Shall We Be Fed? ANNIE M. KNOTT, CSD         Many of those who seek relief from suffering through Christian Science find that the understanding of Truth transforms human experience, makes all things new. There are none who would object to this change if it meant that nothing which is valued by the human sense was to be given up, but they soon learn that thought must be detached from the material, which is so real to mortals, in order to lay hold upon the imperishable things of God’s kingdom. If Christ Jesus laid emphasis upon one thing more than another, it was that we must cease to think about materiality and give ourselves unreservedly to the realization and demonstration of the spiritual. This does not however mean that humanity’s needs will be unprovided for in the transitional period, for we are told on page 442 of Science and Health that “Christ, Truth, gives mortals temporary food and clothing until the material, transformed with the ideal, disappears, and man is clothed and fed spiritually.”          The present age has witnessed a gigantic struggle on the part of men and nations to grasp and hold more of the material than was ever before laid hold of by mortals, and with some measure of success if we take into account the colossal fortunes which have been accumulated. It cannot be denied, moreover, that this struggle to gain material wealth has brought some remarkable results, in the way of mental development, which were worthy of a better cause than the mere acquisition of perishable things. But the question remains, To what extent is the individual really benefited by his efforts, to say nothing of mankind as a whole? If one has bravely striven to ameliorate mortal wretchedness and to establish justice and judgment in the earth by being himself just, and has succeeded in the face of adverse conditions, he is truly a great man and is worthy of all the good that may come to him including the lands and houses of which the great Nazarene Prophet spoke. It is however likely that he will have to take with them the persecutions which come to all who have the courage to assail entrenched wrong and stand by the demands of divine Principle, and it takes more than a moral weakling or a mere self-seeker to maintain a position like this.          We cannot too often remind ourselves of the Master’s clear and unequivocal teaching with respect to the best way of meeting our human needs. He certainly did not say we should ignore them, as some mistakenly suppose, probably from a superficial reading of his counsel to take no thought as to what we should eat, drink, or “put on.” He did not deny that these things were needed by humanity, but he pointed in unmistakable terms to the only sure way of gaining the good we desire. Jesus insisted that our thought-taking along material lines is not only needless but wrong, inasmuch as it directs attention away from the divine purpose and potency and closes the door upon the Father’s abundant supply for all His children.          Students of Christian Science soon learn that it is well-nigh impossible to heal the sick who refuse to lift thought above the body and material means of cure, but in dispelling the illusion of lack the same logic is not so readily applied. In the case of the sick, spiritual freedom means health, and in the case of poverty this is no less true. In both cases thought must be lifted from mortal conditions into close acquaintance with our heavenly Father, who requires not earthly toil to supply His children’s needs. The Father works, however, so Jesus said, and the demand is that we work with one end in view, namely, to give first place in all our thought and activity to “the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.”          The thought which seeks “first” material food gains nothing; that which seeks, finds, and demonstrates spiritual reality has all things, enough and to spare; for the one who feeds upon the living bread gains strength daily to wrestle with mortal wrong and prove it powerless. Our Leader’s words, “May thought soar” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 131), should inspire us to rise above the material and find in divine Love all we can ask or desire.   "Wherewithal Shall We Be Fed?" by Annie M. Knott, CSD Christian Science Sentinel, December 11, 1915

 

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