Be strong

William E. Moody

Love is the basis of all the strength we could ever need.

When we face tough times—maybe a challenge at work, in our family, in a marriage, with our finances, with our health—an old admonition is often brought to our attention. "Be strong," we're told. It's good counsel, and surely everyone wants to be strong. But when we're being hammered, when we might be feeling vulnerable or afraid, it would help to know more—to know how we can have the strength to meet whatever challenge we're facing. And not simply to endure, but to overcome. To move forward. To gain a victory.

Not long ago I got a new glimpse of the "how" while reading J. B. Phillips' translation of the New Testament. In the first letter of St. Paul to the Christian church at Corinth, the Phillips version includes a subheading for verses 13 and 14 of chapter 16. It reads simply: "A little sermon in a nutshell!" That little sermon includes only twenty-three words; but it's a powerful, even surprising, lesson.

In a "nutshell," here's what Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, live like men, be strong! Let everything that you do be done in love."

Look at what Paul is giving us that helps us understand how to "be strong." First he tells us to be on guard—in other words, to be sentinels, to be watching at our post. And isn't this watch essentially a mental and spiritual watch? Through prayer, we're to be on guard and thereby keep out whatever thoughts or suggestions don't have a godly basis—thoughts that aren't good and pure. Then, as part of that guarding, we welcome whatever is good and pure into consciousness and are thereby inspired, strengthened. And what we hold in thought is directly realized in our experience. In one of her writings, Mary Baker Eddy, who established this magazine, makes this important observation: "Good thoughts are an impervious armor; clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort. ... The right thinker abides under the shadow of the Almighty" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 210).

As well as counseling us to be on guard, Paul's words also tell us to "stand firm in the faith" and "live like men." Isn't that faith the essence of what Christ Jesus demonstrated to his disciples through healing the sick and redeeming sinners? Isn't living "like men" really living like Jesus, who was a man of utmost vigor, courage, and compassion? Jesus faced every trial with the conviction that he was at one with God, that God was all powerful, that good was everywhere present, that we are all sons and daughters of God, His spiritual reflection. To live like God's man is to live as the very expression of God—to "be strong" in the truest, most vital sense. And here's where the part of that "sermon in a nutshell" could seem surprising. Paul tells us to do everything in love. The world doesn't very often equate living like a man, or being strong, with doing everything in love. But God is Love. And as we live as the very expression of God, we live as the very expression of Love. That's the basis of all the strength we could ever need or have. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mrs. Eddy affirms, "No power can withstand divine Love" (p. 224). And, "Love is the liberator" (p. 225).

The next time you face a challenge and need to "be strong," remember the "little sermon in a nutshell." Remember that God is Love, and that because you reflect Love, you have the inherent capacity to do everything in love. That's your strength. It will liberate you. You'll find you already are strong—in Love.

William E. Moody Editor

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