Article July 4, 1936 Issue

Impartial Love

JOHN L. MOTHERSHEAD

What peace of thought comes to one as he perceives the impartial nature of God's love! What heartaches have resulted from the feeling that all have not been treated alike by those who give love or good things! Sometimes a child will grow up with a feeling that his parents loved one of his brothers or sisters more than they loved him. In school and in business life there is often the problem of favoritism to solve. Human experiences seem unfair and unjust. Some people are showered with good things, while others struggle against lack. And yet as justice is of God, good is bestowed impartially. Infinite Mind does not single out any idea to bless with more grace than it gives to the others. Sunshine could not pick out a certain rose in the garden and favor it with its light while letting the others remain in darkness.

In the parable of the prodigal son, our Master, Christ Jesus, gave us a concept of God's impartial love and of His inexhaustible supply. The younger son felt that he must separate his share of good from the common family store from which he had been supplied all his life. Thus he showed that his thought of supply was limited, and all too soon he found that that which is limited may be exhausted. When he returned to his father's home, his elder brother, who felt discriminated against, complained to their father that he had never received a kid for a feast, and here was the wayward brother being feasted and honored as if he were the doer of some great thing! The answer of the father was loving and understanding: "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine." What one son had the other must of necessity have, for each had all. There was no separation or discrimination shown. Infinite good cannot be divided or used up. Its infinite nature precludes the possibility of diminution, division, or partial bestowal. Only by reflection, not by segregation, may infinite good be expressed.

Our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, has told us in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 18), "Only by admitting evil as a reality, and entering into a state of evil thoughts, can we in belief separate one man's interests those of the whole human family, or thus attempt to separate Life from God." There being no separation of interests except through believing in error, it follows that only through error could there be an admission of partiality. And it is error which expresses and excuses selfishness. It is error which would try to justify constant work either physically or mentally for oneself rather than for the general good.

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