Article April 4, 1953 Issue

THE PERFECT EXAMPLE

DORIS A. LEWIS

Do you look to some human personality as an example of what you would like to be? Is some human character a symbol to you of a racial or a national champion or savior? Do you think of that person as someone who is just about perfect, as one who can do no wrong? If you do, you are looking to a human being, to an imperfect and limited example, instead of to divine perfection.

In Christian Science one learns that goodness and perfection are divine qualities and originate in God. No human person can be the originator or the bestower of these qualities. True spiritual consciousness is the individual reflection of omnipotent and omnipresent God, good. Therefore whatever goodness or perfection an individual expresses is from God and is not humanly acquired or inherited. God being the creator and source of all good, one understands the impersonal nature of these qualities and sees, in effect, the expression of good in human experience as the exemplification of the divine nature.

In Matthew it is recorded that while Jesus was doing his healing work he was approached by one who called him "Good Master." Jesus replied (19:17), "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God." Thus did Jesus shut out any suggestion of self-derived goodness that might usurp the divine prerequisite. His humble example was a firm rejection of personal adulation.

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