How are we to be profitable?
We’ve all heard the saying “What goes up, must come down.” It’s a simple statement of cause and effect. Like a pencil that is thrown into the air, it always comes back down, illustrating the law of cause and effect. Without a cause, there is no effect. God and man are inseparable from one another because God is the great Cause of all good and man is His great effect.
What does this do for us when we’re faced with a problem we need to work out through the laws of Christian Science? Christian Science lays the foundation of one God, one man, one Cause, one effect. Without God, man cannot be expressed, and without man, God is not fully expressed. Sometimes, we may be tempted to think that as man, we’re not necessary or useful because God can do it all anyway and doesn’t need man to reflect Him. However, that would be saying what goes up, does not come down, that a cause has no need of its effect.
Does a cause have need of its effect? Absolutely! They are one, not two. And in their oneness, they are unified in action, in production, in being and doing. So, when we’re facing a situation that suggests man is not useful to God, we can turn from this false concept and reject it as unworthy of acceptance. Man’s usefulness to God is seen in man’s expression of God. Love is seen in love expressed. Divine Mind is seen in unity of action. Life is seen in fearlessness. Principle is seen in lawfulness. Soul is seen in health. God’s emanation of man makes man profitable to God, good. It demonstrates the scientific unity of Mind and idea, Life and expression, Truth and activity, of which neither would be complete without the other.
“This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men” (Titus 3:8).
How is man profitable? Man exemplifies God’s/Cause’s effect by demonstrating good works. Through reflection, man serves God and man. Man, expressing the great Cause, serves God and serves His idea in good works because Cause and effect can never be separated. This is how man proves his profitability. In fact, we could say man’s profitability to God is not only necessary, it is inevitable. As God’s effect, man is already profitable. Man doesn’t need to build up to being profitable in good works, it is divinely maintained through reflection, through right thinking and right doing. It is divinely maintained through good works — through divinely-originated acts. If we’re ever considering doing something good for another but we’re a bit hesitant, or concerned whether or not we should speak the truth to error in time of need, we can remember man’s position as God’s reflection and go right ahead and reflect, be, do, express!
So, the next time mortal mind suggests that man’s profitability and usefulness to God is missing or unnecessary, let’s each see through this lie and lift thought to see Cause and effect as one, complete, whole, and fully expressed!