"How excellent is thy lovingkindness"

HAROLD C. LEWIS

"LOVINGKINDNESS" is one of the most beautiful terms in the Bible. The Psalmist writes, "How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings." Christian Science teaches that men must learn to understand God's loving-kindness, to have more faith in it, and to depend on it for guidance, in order to overcome the evil which confronts them today.

A child naturally expects loving-kindness from his earthly parents—expects that they will protect and guide him, and supply his needs. In like manner can we be assured of God's loving-kindness and willingness to help us in every way. And, furthermore, we may be sure that God has infinite wisdom and power with which to supply our needs, to protect us and heal us of all our ills.

Christ Jesus gave definite proofs of God's loving-kindness. In spite of persecution, he went about doing good. He healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, made the lame to walk, and raised the dead. Thus he proved that God is Love, that He is omnipresent and omnipotent, and that the right understanding of Him saves from sin and disease. He said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." The loving-kindness of God, His wisdom and power, have never ceased to operate; they are as present and available now as in the days of the Man of Galilee.

Christian Science reveals the fact that the manifold forms of evil—sin, disease, and death—which seem to harass mankind, do not proceed from God, the only cause and creator. Since God made all that was made, and made everything "very good," there is no reality or power in evil. Mary Baker Eddy, on page 418 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," speaks of differing forms of disease as "waking dream-shadows, dark images of mortal thought, which flee before the light of Truth."

The modus operandi of Christian Science is not to have merely a blind faith in God. It is based on the understanding of God and His infinite love. Treatment in Christian Science is the application of the truth of spiritual being to human discords. It destroys disorder and brings eternal harmony to light. The healer turns trustingly to God, rejoicing in His infinite goodness and love. He recognizes God's allness. The error, whether it be a physical ailment or a business difficulty, is declared to be unreal, and the ever-presence of God and His perfect creation, including man in His image and likeness, is realized. This work faithfully done, affirming man's dominion and perfection as a child of God, heals.

Because God is Love, man reflects Love. We must remember this in our efforts to heal. Many cases of seemingly hopeless disease are caused by hatred, revenge, and resentment. Therefore, they can be healed only by the expression of opposite qualities, such as love, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, and mercy. Now, if one is resentful toward a neighbor, if he indulges in unkind and unjust criticism, if he is unmerciful and unforgiving, he cannot expect to heal quickly and scientifically. One must strive to reflect such love as the Master's, that he may be ready to heal when called upon for help. Our revered Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, writes in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 569), "He that touches the hem of Christ's robe and masters his mortal beliefs, animality, and hate, rejoices in the proof of healing,—in a sweet and certain sense that God is Love."

Love destroys hate. One Sunday morning, a young man who was becoming interested in Christian Science, started for church feeling violently angry with an associate. He entered the church in this state of thought. The congregation was engaged in silent prayer. As he stepped inside the door he was instantly healed of the resentment and hate, the wrong thinking disappeared like a storm cloud, and a sense of love and peace came into his consciousness like sunshine after a shower. The experience has never been forgotten, and the resulting desire to be more loving and compassionate has remained throughout the years. Since that time, he has seen numerous physical ills healed by realization of the ever-presence of divine Love.

Moses and the prophets proved that God's loving-kindness is adequate to supply all the needs of mankind. The children of Israel were fed with manna, and water flowed from the rock to quench their thirst. Christ Jesus fed the multitudes, thus demonstrating that divine Love overcomes lack. Christ, Truth, is "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." Therefore, Love's supply of good is as available today as it was centuries ago. When we are troubled by lack, our remedy is sure: it is the realization that God is All, and that man is His image and likeness, reflecting His power and substance. We need to know that true substance is spiritual, not material; that man, as the child of God, has all substance now and cannot lack any good thing.

Truly, God's loving-kindness excels all other means in the healing and redeeming of mankind. Moreover, God's loving-kindness can never pass away, but must remain throughout all time, gathering all under the shadow of His wings. In the words of one of our hymns (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 359):

Trust the Eternal, for the clouds that vanish
No more can move the mountains from their base
Than sin's illusive wreaths of mist can banish
Light from His throne or loving from His face.

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