Article August 1, 1942 Issue

Learning How to Love

ELSIE ZIMMERMANN

God , divine Principle, is unchanging, everlasting, infinite Love, the source of all that is beautiful and harmonious and good, and to reflect this Love is the divine way out of our human problems. We can find our true selves and the true meaning of our lives only as we express God-bestowed, tender, and compassionate love; as we manifest the Christlike love which Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount; as we live love in more useful, helpful ways, made glorious through the unfoldment of divine Love. Lack of love is the only lack there is, whether it manifests itself as lack of health, supply, companionship, or activity. Mary Baker Eddy says (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 312), "Oh, may the love that is talked, be felt! and so lived, that when weighed in the scale of God we be not found wanting." Such love is strong, courageous, and steadfast, quick to rebuke evil in thought and unsee it as person, place, or thing.

Jesus' love embodied all the qualities of true love. Spiritually discerning, tender and wise, absolute and scientific, he proved in beautiful and practical ways to all who came to him the meaning of divine Love in his healing words and works. To the hungry he gave bread and sustenance; to Mary and Martha, loving consideration and friendly solicitude; to his mother, the tenderness and thoughtfulness of a loving son. The lame, the deaf, the blind, the multitude he healed, for he loved universally and gave without measure out of the divine tenderness of his heart. When we learn to love as Jesus did, we shall never judge, correct, or rebuke except to heal, for we shall seek the kindest and best way to help, the loving way that Christian Science teaches.

One of the first steps in learning how to love is taken through humility; for when we are humble, we are ready to listen to Love's message, are willing to wait and learn from divine Mind. The truly humble do not seek to do our way or believe that their way is a better one, but they let God's way unfold and prevail. There is no human will, no striving for place or power, in the humble, loving heart. With humility based on divine Love, the true Christian Scientist is seeking how best to serve God and promote the brotherhood of man. Jesus surrendered his will to the divine and followed the dictates of Love. In that dark hour before the crucifixion, his petition was, "Not my will, but thine, be done," and this self-effacement strengthened him in his demonstration and enabled him to walk with Love all along the way, even up to Calvary and upon the cross, thus proving through the resurrection and the ascension his oneness with the Father in eternal life and love.

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