Expressing God meets our needs

MAN cannot help expressing God, because God expresses His nature in man. The purpose for which man was created is to do God's will and to glorify Him. The book of Isaiah represents God as saying, ``This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.''1 Whatever our vocation, we are all, in the highest sense, in the business of expressing God. And if God created us to show forth His nature, to be about His business, He will certainly provide us with everything we need in order to carry out His work. Jesus told his disciples not to be anxious about the basic necessities of life when he said, ``Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.''2 We have to willingly and obediently give God first priority in our thoughts and in our lives, because this is the very basis of our salvation. Doing so, we'll find that our needs are cared for.

At one time it became increasingly obvious to me, as a piano teacher and working pianist, that I needed a new piano, but my personal finances were practically depleted. I was helped by a particular Bible Lesson, outlined in the Christian Science Quarterly. The subject was ``Substance.'' We generally think of substance as something that is materially solid. But in the Christian Science textbook, Mary Baker Eddy3 begins her answer to the question ``What is substance?'' in this way: ``Substance is that which is eternal and incapable of discord and decay. Truth, Life, and Love are substance, as the Scriptures use this word in Hebrews: `The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.' Spirit, the synonym of Mind, Soul, or God, is the only real substance.''4

I was inspired with the idea that I should invest some spiritual substance in my business. I would endeavor to express the substance of God-derived qualities, which actually were already mine as God's likeness.

I remembered a ballet class I had been accompanying in which I had heard the teacher remark to a pupil, ``You must do your best all the time.'' I realized that I had not been doing my best all of the time; I had allowed my concentration to lapse. I resolved to interpret the music more accurately.

There was an opportunity for investing -- expressing -- more spiritual substance in tap-dancing classes, too. For two years I had been using the same one hundred tunes. Some freshness and variety were needed, so I set about compiling another one hundred. How could the teacher and I expect the children to be inventive and imaginative or improve their responsiveness to music if I kept playing the same tunes?

I saw too that I could be more patient and tolerant with my own piano pupils. I had to remember that I was trying to cultivate the students' love and understanding of music, not just get them through examinations. I also realized that my own piano playing had been neglected, so I set aside more time regularly for my own personal practice.

I got so busy thinking of ways to express more spiritual substance in my work and putting God's qualities into practice that I forgot about needing a new piano. One evening I saw an advertisement offering a secondhand piano for a very reasonable price. The piano turned out to be ideal for my purposes and was almost as good as new. The price was sufficiently low, and I was able to buy it.

God is the only cause, the only creator, and He is impelling us to express Him. When we're receptive to that demand and strive more and more to live in accord with it, we gain a greater sense of His presence and of His love for us. We are never really separated from God or from His provision. But sometimes we need to strive more actively to express the purity and love of the divine nature in order to prove His care and to see more clearly our true, spiritual identity, which never lacks anything.

God is forever supplying His creation with creative ideas. When we trust in Him, open our thought in prayer, and express His qualities, we discern these ideas, and we find that they care for our needs.

1Isaiah 43:21. 2Matthew 6:33. 3The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. 4Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 468. DAILY BIBLE VERSE: Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Psalms 37:3