Article March 28, 1942 Issue

Love for God and Man

RAYMOND MANSBRIDGE BROCK

Students of Christian Science, in taking stock of their progress, may well ponder over the motives behind their actions. They may remember the Scriptural injunctions, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," and, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

The question, "What is God?" is answered on page 465 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy: "God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love." The student will find that his understanding of this definition is enlarged by prayerful consideration of the meaning of the qualities and synonyms of God. He will gain a clearer mental concept of God as Mind, the one and only true intelligence, of whom man is the reflection; he will learn that love is the substance of every motive and action of man, the image and likeness of God, Love—that the real man is created in God's likeness, the likeness of Truth, and there is of course in reality no other man.

Christian Scientists are conscious of the need of fulfilling the requirement to know and love God more, to be aware constantly of God as Love, and to realize increasingly that because God is Love, every true thought and deed must be characterized by love. This love is not an intellectual attainment: it is the result of a childlike confidence in and understanding of God, Spirit; it is achieved through the spiritualization of thought and desire. The task of learning to love is not difficult when we realize that the inseparability of God and man is a forever fact. Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health (p. 516), "Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God."

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Resisting the Propaganda of Evil