From Ethiopia to Nicaragua, Paraguay to India, people around the world are living in extreme poverty. How can we solve this problem and create societies where the needs of all people are met? The answer lies in empowering people to realize their full potential. This work is done on an individual basis and all of us can participate.
People who live in poverty, who’s basic needs are not being met, might feel hopeless that their circumstances could ever change. Even so, there are countless examples of people who, starting in impoverished circumstances, have gone on to become highly successful. Just look at the many celebrities who have stories like this. Maybe they grew up in a third world country, maybe they were homeless at one point in their lives. Despite their struggles, they didn’t allow themselves to stay stuck. They worked actively to achieve their best, and it paid off in a big way.
Though they may not realize it at the time, people who lift themselves out of poverty and go on to become highly successful are demonstrating God’s principle in action. Something inside of them told them that they are important, that they’re here for a reason and that their work matters. This fact is true for every person on planet earth; we each fill a place in the universe that is only ours to fill.
The essence of this idea can be boiled down to one simple fact: You are loved. God loves you, and you don’t need to do anything to earn this love. Christian Science, or the law of Love, promises that God will pour out his unending grace to meet our every human need. The more we do to understand and cherish this idea, the more we will see evidence of it in our experience.
The prophet Elisha gave us a tangible example of how God always meets every human need in II Kings. One of Elisha’s servants died leaving behind a wife and two children. The widow’s family was in debt and her creditors threatened to take her two sons away if she wasn’t able to repay them. All the woman had left in her house was a single flask of olive oil. Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.”
As the widow and her two sons filled every empty jar they could find, the small amount of oil in their flask multiplied before their eyes. They sold all of the jars and made enough money to repay their debt. This story exemplifies the law of Love which Mary Baker Eddy writes about in the Christian Science textbook: “Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need.” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures 494:10-11). This scientific law was in operation when the widow woman put her faith in God and kept pouring the oil from jar to jar. It didn’t matter that her family was deep in debt, God still loved them, and this love was enough to meet their need.
When we all hold this principle in thought, that no human being can have a need too big for Love to fill, we can each do our part in putting an end to poverty. When we demonstrate this in our own lives, we show that it is possible for all people, regardless of their human circumstances, to live a life free of poverty.
We invite you to join us in prayer and share the ways in which you have overcome lack in your life. Write your stories in the comments section below. You are also invited to join us on Wednesdays at 7:30pm for our Testimony Meeting and Sundays at 11:00am for our weekly church service. Our Reading Room is another great resource to dig deeper and find helpful articles on how Christian Science heals. You can join any of our services on the phone at the following number:
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Love filled the ponds — By Tom Feldman
From the Christian Science Sentinel – February 18, 2013
One of our neighbors spends part of his time at his cattle ranch about 150 miles west of town. A few months ago my wife and I were taking a walk in our neighborhood and ran into him. He was down in the dumps because he had not had any rain for months and all his ranch ponds had dried up. He said he was spending so much money on trucking in hay and on electricity for pumping well water for his cattle that he was going broke. He said he would have to sell off much of his herd, which he had been building up for many years.
My neighbor, my wife, and I had all prayed about drought conditions before, so I said, “Let’s pray about this,” and then my wife and I had to leave. Immediately a familiar Bible passage came to thought, assuring me that there would be “no lack” (see II Corinthians 8:15).
The Bible has many practical examples of how divine help has overcome lack. Jesus prayed and then fed over five thousand people in the desert, when moments before his disciples had told him they had only “five loaves, and two fishes” (see Matthew 14:15–21). Also, Joseph was able to save Egypt from seven years of famine (see Genesis 41), Moses saw the children of Israel fed with manna in the wilderness (see Exodus 16), and Elisha helped a destitute widow fill her household vessels with valuable oil (see II Kings 4).
These wonderful stories inspired my prayer that God does furnish a “table in the wilderness” (Psalms 78:19) time and time again. Isn’t that the key—to gain a clear conviction that God is willing and able to help us?
There are modern examples of God providing us with what we need as well. Mary Baker Eddy helped many people find practical spiritual answers through God’s love, including documented healings of poverty, illnesses, effects from accidents, and even adverse weather conditions overcome. Her healing works showed the substance behind her inspired words: “Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need.” That reassuring statement from page 494 of her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is on the walls of many Christian Science churches around the world.
The Bible has many practical examples of how divine help has overcome lack.
In Concord, New Hampshire, in 1894, Mrs. Eddy proved the correcting power of understanding God’s love at a time of drought: “There had been no rain in the Concord area throughout November. The farmer who delivered Pleasant View’s [Mrs. Eddy’s home] milk told the cook that his well was empty and his cows were beginning to go dry. When Mrs. Eddy was told about this, she smiled and said, ‘Oh! if he only knew, Love fills that well.’ The next day when the farmer came, he was overjoyed to tell the cook that that morning he had found his well full of water. And what was amazing to him was that there had been no rain to fill it” (Yvonne Caché von Fettweis and Robert Townsend Warneck, Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer, Amplified Edition, pp. 176–177). About the same time, needed funds were found and several pressing challenges overcome to finish building an edifice for The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts.
A favorite statement that has helped me in overcoming problems of lack in business and other situations is: “The Psalmist saith: ‘He shall give His angels charge over thee.’ God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies. Never ask for to-morrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment” (Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, pp. 306–307). Praying with these inspired ideas uplifted my thought about my neighbor’s situation and removed my concerns about the drought our area was experiencing.
About three weeks after our neighbor and I had talked about his lack of water, during which time I had been actively praying about it, my wife and I ran into him while we were on our walk. He was beaming. He said he was happier than he had been for many years. He had just come from his ranch and all his ponds were full! He said he would have enough water to get him through the winter and that he did not know where the rain had come from, because he keeps an eye on the weather radar and had not seen any rain storms near his ranch since we had talked. It was evident that Love had filled those ponds.
No doubt many others had been praying, too. We should be encouraged, for, “the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not” (Isaiah 58:11).
Tom Feldman is a Christian Science practitioner living in Albuquerque, New Mexico.