Editorial June 14, 1924 Issue

"Those things that please him"

Albert F. Gilmore

The world has never witnessed in another so great a desire to do the will of God as was manifested by Christ Jesus. Search of the four gospels discloses no instance when to obey the Father's commands was not uppermost in his thought. Complete surrender under all circumstances and at all times to God's will was the Master's motive and desire. So completely was he under the divine commands that he could declare, "For I do always those things that please him." Could words convey a greater sense of self-abnegation? In his marvelous success in attaining his purpose, Christ Jesus became for all time and for all mankind the great Exemplar, the Way-shower of humanity to salvation and the kingdom of heaven.

Christian Scientists are invariably impressed with the emphasis placed by Mrs. Eddy upon the necessity of holding to the same desire which impelled the works of the Nazarene,—that is, to obey God's commands. It is their earnest purpose to approximate as nearly as possible the same degree of success in demonstrating obedience and self-surrender, in order that they, too, may know and do the will of God. Our Leader has given no encouragement to the holding of any lesser ideal, or to being satisfied with less than the highest type of demonstration. The first necessity in following Jesus' example is to gain knowledge of the things that please God. What are they, and how may they be accomplished? Christ Jesus made the way very plain, for he declared God's two great commandments, the greatest of all, to be, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," and also, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." So sure was Jesus of the importance of these commands that he declared them to be the foundation of all the law and the prophets; that is to say, the fundamentals upon which were based the teachings of the spiritually-minded who had gone before him.

Christian Scientists may know, then, that always to do the things that please God, good, is to love Him with all one's capacity for love; and the capacity to love, it will be found, gains with its use. To do this is not so difficult as one might think; for, when it becomes known that all that is real and worthy of our love emanates from God, the problem is in the way of being solved. One obviously cannot love that which is unlovely! The human affections are not fixed upon that which is entirely lacking in worthiness. To be sure, wicked habits may be indulged until one seems to have affection only for evil, but upon close analysis of one's mental state, it will be found that true affection can never be induced by that which is altogether unlovely or sinful. And when it is learned that, as James declared, "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above," and that, as we learn in Christian Science, God is infinite good, and that only the good is worthy, the First Commandment is reduced to terms which not only are simple but are readily practicable for all who wish to obey God.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

"Those things that please him"

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access