Article May 3, 1952 Issue

RIGHT ESTIMATES

GERALD STANWELL

If we are to have any sense of direction or purpose in life, one of the vital points to determine is what is real and what is unreal. To reach this decision we need a correct concept or estimation of values.

In Moffatt's translation of the Bible, Paul's statement of his estimate of the real and the unreal is translated thus (II Cor. 5:16, 17): "I estimate no one by what is external; even though I once estimated Christ by what is external, I no longer estimate him thus. There is a new creation whenever a man comes to be in Christ; what is old is gone, the new has come."

Christ Jesus sought to give his disciples a higher estimate or valuation of their real being when he said to them (Luke 12:7): "The very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows." And he had just said of the sparrows, "Not one of them is forgotten before God." The infinite Father-Mother God is the perfect estimator or appraiser of all things. When Paul speaks of one who "comes to be in Christ," he is referring to the value of man which the Master sought to impart to the world through his loving and impartial ministry of preaching and healing. Paul's statement shows the need of turning thought away from a physical and personal ego to a more vivid realization of the infinite and forever unfolding beauty of the ever-loving Christ, which reflects God. This right estimate of man is not material, but spiritual.

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