Article February 12, 1966 Issue

Understanding What Is Important

ELOISE PATTILLO HENDRICK

In primitive as well as in more civilized societies men have often been concerned with what is known today as prestige and status symbols. It is a melancholy commentary that much of what people have regarded as important has subsequently been forgotten. The regime of Herod the Great, for example, with all its impressiveness, has long since faded into insignificance; whereas Jesus' simple teachings about the kingdom of heaven have spread over the globe.

The lasting preeminence of Jesus, in contrast to that of mundane rulers, is due to the fact that his work had a divine basis. His motive was not self-glorification but the exemplification of God as divine Principle. His aim or endeavor was to demonstrate the all-inclusive government of God and to be obedient to this government. Thus he protected his work from all efforts to discredit and overthrow his teachings.

The same demand to show forth the glory of God rather than a material sense of self is imperative for all the followers of the Way-shower and for all Christian Scientists. Those who do this successfully are inevitably preeminent. They are like "a city that is set on an hill" (Matt. 5: 14). Their abilities and achievements turn thought to the allness of God, not to personal glory. It is interesting to note that the word "prestige" once meant a conjurer's trick, an illusion, a deception.

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