Article November 6, 1902 Issue

Love

CONSTANCE GIBSON.

THOUGHTS seem to have been unfolding themselves more than ever to me lately about Jesus, his mission and his life; and one of these thoughts was the tenderness of the divine Love which he reflected. When I first became interested in Christian Science I was greatly struck by the purity of divine Love, but it seemed to me a long way off and far beyond my reach. It was the life of a Christian Scientist whom I met last summer, which first led me to see that divine Love is not far off and unnatural, but that it is just the nature of God and all around us. The only expression of this Love is infinite sympathy, infinite tenderness, and infinite mercy, and that it is this Love expressed by Jesus which is the Saviour of the world.

Jesus made no condition before he loved, he just loved on all the time. He never asked if those around him were living up to their highest sense of right; he never waited to see if they were demonstrating his teachings; he just went on loving, and if his very love uncovered evil he only loved the more until it was destroyed. It was not he who condemned the adulterous woman; it was not he who nailed the thieves to the cross, and even the very men who mocked and scourged him he commended to a loving Father's care. Jesus' mission was not to destroy but to fulfil. Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, p. 518) "Blessed is that mortal who seeth his brother's need and supplieth it, seeking his own in another's good." When the multitudes were hungry Jesus did not send them empty away, thinking the supply was not sufficient for his own disciples. He gave thanks for what he had, and this spirit of gratitude and love radiated until it satisfied them all. It was this Love which Jesus proved be all-powerful to destroy sin, sickness, and death, and this is the Love which we too have to reflect.

Jesus never told us to wait for a world to come in which to love, he told us to love now. He never told us to wait to see if our brother was doing his work before we loved him; the command is to love, and love means love,—nothing else. We must not wait to be perfect before we begin to obey. We must become as little children, and in meek simplicity follow in his footsteps all the way. We know that the smallest thought of love is from God, and contains within itself all good. There is no limit to the good this little spark can do, if we give thanks for it and give it all to others. Then it will shine brighter and brighter until the very tenderness and sweetness of its expression will lead all men to its divine Source for health and happiness.

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