Article March 31, 1997 Issue

"Never off guard"

Betty M. Shank

How do you stay on guard? And what are you guarding against?

The thought-provoking New Testament in Modern English by J. B. Phillips gives a clear answer: "Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-make you so that your whole attitude of mind is changed" (Rom. 12:2). Sometimes even casual conversations may provide fertile ground for world-molded patterns of thought—if one is lulled into a wrong sense of sympathy by them.

While compassion is vital, a pitying sympathy may cause us to see ourselves or another as having fallen below the standard of what God creates—spiritual perfection. On the other hand, compassion, as Christ Jesus' healing work shows, enables us to see each individual as the perfect reflection of God, embraced in His all-encompassing love. In her book No and Yes, Mary Baker Eddy writes, "Sympathy with sin, sorrow, and sickness would dethrone God as Truth, for Truth has no sympathy for error" (p. 30). The Bible calls for us to put on "the whole armour of God" (Eph. 6:11). Surely, compassion and love must be essential parts of this. But pity would trap thought into an acceptance of vulnerability! It throws us off guard.