Editorial August 1, 1953 Issue

GRACE

Robert Ellis Key

The quality of grace may well be defined as the exercise of love. No quality is more necessary or desirable than the exercise of love. We have perhaps been accustomed to think of grace as the rhythm of movement such as that expressed by the athlete in his actions or the dancer in his dance. But the real meaning of grace is deeper and more spiritual than that.

The exercise of love certainly demands action, for without action love would be like the athlete who never expressed rhythm of movement or the dancer who never danced. The great demand of divine Love is activity. Mary Baker Eddy, on page 250 of "Miscellaneous Writings," says, "I make strong demands on love, call for active witnesses to prove it, and noble sacrifices and grand achievements as its results."

We all desire to receive the grace of God and to reflect the action of God's graciousness. We require to realize that God's love is exercised on our behalf and that man, as God's reflection, reciprocates His loving. The beloved disciple John, who perhaps more than all others of Jesus' followers understood the meaning of love, realized how abundantly God pours forth His love upon us through the Christ and thus makes love the essence of our divine nature. He writes (John 1:14), "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."

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