Yesterday, a traveling saleswoman stopped into my office to sell me a cleaning product I had never heard of before. It was a green liquid, made of natural ingredients, can clean anything according to its promoter, and was environmentally safe. She licked the tube in the can to prove her point. I politely declined buying her ware, not sure it was legitimate or not, and didn’t need it anyway.

Later, a neighbor store owner stopped by to talk about removing graffiti in our vicinity. I changed the subject and asked her if the saleswoman had stopped by her store. She nodded yes and proceeded to tell me the product was a con, that she hoped I hadn’t bought any, and that it would have been a waste of money. I assured her I made the right decision, at least according to her point of view! When she left, I was glad I hadn’t got conned, hadn’t bought the product and was confident I would never even consider buying it in the future. My mind was made up based upon what my neighbor told me.

Later, though, I thought about how rapidly I had closed my mind to ever using the product. I had no proof one way or the other that the stuff worked. Actually, the saleswoman had cleaned some graffiti off the trashcan outside my office, proving it could clean somewhat. So, it bothered me that I had written the product off as no good so quickly.

What if my neighbor was wrong? What if the saleswoman was right? I didn’t honestly know.

Now, I’m not worried about whether I need the cleaning solution or not. What got my attention was how rapidly my mind closed to an option just because my neighbor said so.

I thought about the millions of people who have been told that Christian Science is a cult, and they believed it, not because it was true, but because they were told so. And they never went on to question whether the verdict was correct or not. (And, by the way, it is not. Christian Science couldn’t be further from being a cult. It worships one God, not any person.) And millions of people have been deprived of the huge healing benefit CS could have brought into their lives, if they only knew the truth about it.

But then I thought of all the times when mortal mind (internal fear, doubt, lack, etc) talks to us as an authority, and we believe it when we shouldn’t.

For example, I remember a time when Kathy and I wanted to buy a house, but didn’t see any way we could afford it. I checked our bank balances and other assets and there was no way we could afford the place. Case closed. Beyond a doubt, it was not a doable deal.

At least, that’s what the material sense report told us. And I believed it beyond a shadow of a doubt. At least for a while….

After a bit, I prayerfully challenged the evidence of the senses. Instead of looking to our bank account for money which was not there, I went to Mind, the source of all supply. I knew there were no shortages in Mind, only abundance. Lack is a finite human concept. Abundance is divine reality. Was I going to live in the realm of the finite or the infinite? I asked myself. I decided to settle for the infinite.

I did not pray for money. I prayed for an expanded view of spiritual abundance, and I found peace in knowing our family did not lack in any way, shape or form. We had all we needed whether we bought the house or not, I concluded. We were complete.

Within two weeks, in what seemed like miraculous ways, $80,000 appeared that enabled us to buy the house. It was astounding, totally unforeseen, but it happened.

To see this demonstration, though, I had to open my mind up to new possibilities. I had to stop listening to the material voice of fear, quit beholding lack, and think out from Mind-Truth. Then the picture changed.

So, the lesson I gain from all this is the importance of not abruptly drawing conclusions that aren’t based on the facts—and when it comes to spiritual healing—upon the spiritual facts! All other evidence is suspect until verified with truth.