Article January 10, 1983 Issue

Humility as spiritual power

JOHN K. DANIELS

In human terms many of the moral and spiritual qualities that Christ Jesus advised us to cultivate in his Sermon on the Mount seem to be measured as negatives—as subtractions from positions we would otherwise be apt to take. To be a peacemaker, for example, could require us not to align ourselves completely with one side or the other of a conflict, not to go beyond some middle ground. To be merciful might require us not to exact from another what we feel is our due. And to be humble could require us not to express personal pride or assertiveness. Defined only in terms of human behavior, peacemaking, mercy, and humility may seem to leave us with less than we need to cope successfully with human existence. From this negative frame of reference, turning the other cheek to an adversary who didn't connect as well as he planned on the first attempt could be quite messy.

But Christ Jesus rarely spoke from the frame of reference of human behavior. His frame of reference was the Christ. He understood God's ever-present power and man's God-derived ability to express that power. Because God is Spirit, man is spiritual— reflecting God's nature and power in spiritual activity. The human being, dreaming in matter and enslaved by mental misconceptions, is more or less ignorant of his divinely bestowed ability to break the evil presentations of the dream by turning to the true concept of man's spiritual identity.

The Sermon on the Mount is a dream breaker. It awakens us to the truth of spiritual existence: to the fact that we are able to be obedient to Christ Jesus' command: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."^{ Matt. 5:48.} And it tells us of the rewards of obedience.

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