Article November 20, 1937 Issue

Self-Sacrifice

HELEN WOOD BAUMAN

Christian Science explains self-sacrifice as a joyous spiritual experience, as a voluntary yielding of the individual human consciousness to Truth. There is nothing negative or depressing about this yielding, but rather the certainty of positive spiritual gain.

When Christ Jesus said to his followers, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me," he was not exhorting men merely to acts of personal unselfishness. He was explaining the fundamental rule of Christianly metaphysical practice, the rule of spiritual healing. On other occasions he stated his instructions more absolutely: "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple."

Christian Science reveals the true selfhood of man to be the individual likeness of the heavenly Father; hence incorporeal, spiritual, perfect, immortal. The spiritual understanding of true selfhood uncovers the falsity of seeming material selfhood and explains the already quoted statements of Christ Jesus. He who best knew the healing, transforming law of divine Love could never have commanded his followers to hate in the ordinary human sense of the word. He was simply insisting that material personality be known as absolutely false.

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