Article April 12, 2010 Issue

LOVE MADE PERFECT

A look at Jesus' teachings about unconditional love.

BY SHIRLEY PAULSON

You could say that the ultimate act of love is to lay down one's life for another. No one did this better than Christ Jesus. For people the world over, Jesus' self-sacrifice on the cross epitomized his profound teachings on love.

"Remember that the first and last lesson of Christian Science is love, perfect love, and love made perfect through the cross," wrote Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 138).

Sometimes in our exploration of the Bible, it's tempting to skip over the contemplation of Jesus' ordeal on the cross. Yet it's his resurrection that promises victory over the ills of the flesh, and this resurrection cannot be separated from the cross. Any attempt to claim the crown without the cross is an abstraction, or mere theory.

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