The Bible Speaks to You March 14, 1970 Issue

[The above is an abbreviated, postproduction text of the program released for broadcast the week of March 6—12 in the radio series, "The Bible Speaks to You." Heard internationally over more than 1,000 stations, the weekly programs are prepared and produced by the Christian Science Committee on Publication, 107 Falmouth Street, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. 02115.]

RADIO PROGRAM NO. 414 - What Are We Sensitive To?

with contributions from Michael Thorneloe, George Richards

[The participants are Michael Thorneloe and George Richards.]

Richards: Everybody wants to be appreciated. To some extent we are all sensitive to being ignored or slighted or to what other people say or don't say. This is a common problem.
Thorneloe: We have all had to face it. All too often there are people who are doing good work, and still there seems to be no appreciation for the good they do.
Richards: For example, let's say we have a home situation in which a wife has worked hard all day to get the house shipshape and prepare a nice meal, but her husband comes home, eats dinner, sits in the living room, and then goes to bed without saying a word about all she has done. She feels unappreciated.
Thorneloe: Doesn't this really come down to the question of what we're sensitive to? In tackling this sort of problem I've found that, if someone says or does something or fails to say or do something that we feel is right, instead of looking to human personality we can turn to God and say, for example, "All right, I feel sensitive about this situation, but may God help me to be more sensitive to, or more really conscious of, the man I really am." What is helpful is to ask ourselves who the man is that we really are, instead of being so preoccupied with what others think of us that we fail to recognize what we are as the beloved children of God.

Christ Jesus said (John 3:16), "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Doesn't this bring out that each of us has real worth? This gets us moving in God-impelled directions to actively help others as well as ourselves.
Richards: Well, is human appreciation a good thing from your point of view?
Thorneloe: Human appreciation is loving; it is kind. It is therefore right to express appreciation and gratitude for what another does. On the other hand, if we're depending upon human appreciation, we're liable to be slighted and hurt. If we're letting ourselves be sensitive to God, to His direction, to what we really are as God's expression, then we're progressively not hurt. If the individual is willing to look to God as the source of his true worth, then he won't be sidetracked by looking to person.