Servants To God Only

We find that a servant is “an agent who is subject to the direction and control of his principal;” and so when Paul speaks about “being made free from sin, and become servants to God,” we understand his metaphysical meaning to be that such a free man is an agent of Principle. The fact is, as the apostle brings out, that every man is the servant of that which he obeys. If he yields himself obedient to sin, he is sin’s servant; and if that service continues, it ultimates in death, “for the wages of sin is death.” On the other hand, obedience to Principle not only frees a man from sin’s dominion, but is itself expressed in righteousness; “made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness,” Paul says, and continues the analogy by urging that as their members had been serving vice, they should now dedicate them to righteousness and so evidence holiness or consecration.

The question is timely for every living man to-day: What is it that has the hold over you? What do you desire to obey? The question is timely because of the “war in heaven” wherein all that perfectly obeys Principle is meeting the assaults of everything that desires kingdom, and dominion, and power apart from Principle. No such kingdom as that of mortal mind, a “house divided against itself,” can stand. But even though the end of human ambition is death instead of enduring righteousness, human lust for godless power rises to mislead nation after nation and to torment the world. “Let us live while we live,” becomes the motto of those who seek a brief satisfaction for their animalism. Mrs. Eddy says regarding this (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 36): “Appetites, passions, anger, revenge, subtlety, are the animal qualities of sinning mortals.” Repentance and sorrow for sin would be the salvation of men from these conditions, but instead of this and obedience to God’s call, there is too often what Isaiah depicted, “Joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we shall die.”

Presumably the rich man whose lands were so fertile he planned to build greater barns and then to take his ease, was himself a good worker, toiling through the years for this final abundance. He may have been what we might call an honest materialist. It is an ancient temptation for the materialist, however, not to be honest, but to look upon the earth as a reservoir for the satisfaction of his animal propensities, and by simply taking from others what they possess, to have “much goods laid up for many years,” and be able, therefore, to “eat, drink, and be merry.” This is the hour when the true word can be understood regarding this false belief, as long ago declared: “He that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.”

The desire for gaining through might unearned advantages and possessions, indicates resentment against God’s call to obedience and holiness, and reveals indeed ill will to Principle itself. To gain by right seems a process too slow for the ambitious man, because he believes in the brevity of life. The Discoverer of Christian Science thus denounces this false belief (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 277): “I cannot help loathing the phenomena of drunkenness produced by animality. I rebuke it wherever I see it. The vision of the Revelator is before me. The wines of fornication, envy, and hatred are the distilled spirits of evil, and are the signs of these times; but I am not dismayed, and my peace returns unto me.” Further she says, “It is the love of God, and not the fear of evil, that is the incentive in Science.” Herein surely is both incentive for the repression of animal propensities and inspiration for our becoming servants to God only. How beautifully this service is spoken of in “Unity of Good” (p. 3): “Now this self-same God is our helper. He pities us. He has mercy upon us, and guides every event of our careers. He is near to them who adore Him. To understand Him, without a single taint of our mortal, finite sense of sin, sickness, or death, is to approach Him and become like Him.”

This will be found true primarily,— that we obey what we love. But there is a secondary fact that a kind of obedience may be given to that which we fear. A man unenlightened may love sin and obey its behests with alacrity, not willing to pray the prayer which says, “Lead us not into temptation,” but rather inviting the tempter with a readiness to do whatever new thing might stimulate or intoxicate the jaded senses. And yet such a one, for fear of God, might on stated occasions go through forms of religion, or do penance or contribute heavily. Here everything is turned wrong way about. He fears where he should love, and loves what he should avoid. In such a state of mind, there is no mental health. The true way was stated by Jesus with perfect simplicity when he defined the First Commandment: “Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.” Of course the correlative to this must follow, bringing out love for man.

If we love God, then, we are servants to good only, and not in bondage to any man nor to any disease, fear, or false belief. People think of consecration as limitation, but it is a spiritual fact that consecration and liberty go together. Freedom and holiness are necessarily conjoined, and fullness of joy is one with obedience to God. Out of this Phoenix fire which is engirdling the world, what shall arise? Men are expecting a new order of things, and some have faith that the new order will be a universal expression of obedience to the one Master, who said, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” His life was the example of obedience. Christian Science is bringing to the world a right understanding of his life. When people whisper hopefully about “a new religion,” what are they expecting but just the practical application of Christianity as it is being brought out through Christian Science.