Today there is an ever-growing need for us to be more loving toward one another. In public platforms, divisive rhetoric and false accusations are pervasive; insults are hurled openly. In personal lives we see many relationships on edge. What will it take for us to learn to be more loving? The last verse of Mary Baker Eddy’s poem “ ‘Feed my Sheep’ ” offers a clue:

What is it that washes away anger and hatred?  What is it that enables us to fulfill our duty to love one another, which is essential to the salvation of the world? When we are willing to set aside pride and self-righteousness and humbly seek God’s guidance, the true nature of God and His expression, man, is revealed in our hearts.

It might seem impossible to love in the face of hatred. It’s common to believe that to love someone is to enjoy being around them but that it is impossible to enjoy an offensive personality. In calling us to love one another, was Jesus asking us to love a mortal personality, including one that is hateful and offensive?

The writings of Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, bring out the distinction between human personality and the spiritual nature we each have as man, the image and likeness of God. Her main work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, states, “Personality is not the individuality of man,” “Man is idea, the image, of Love; he is not physique,” and, “Divine Love is infinite. Therefore all that really exists is in and of God, and manifests His love” (pp. 491, 475, 340).

Jesus’ example teaches us how to be more loving: by applying these truths in our daily lives and beholding God’s man or idea right where the mortal view sees only imperfection. It is this correct view of man as God’s expression that brings healing and enables us to love our neighbor. 

At one point in my career, I was challenged by what I perceived as a colleague’s offensive personality. It seemed intolerable to continue working with this person. I found employment elsewhere, but no sooner had I settled into the new job than I was confronted with yet another offensive personality. 

I began to realize that I needed to look more deeply into this issue from the Christianly metaphysical basis of divine Science. As I started to examine my own thought, I saw that I had been carrying around a view of man as mortal and material. Turning to Science and Health, I found this statement: “Undisturbed amid the jarring testimony of the material senses, Science, still enthroned, is unfolding to mortals the immutable, harmonious, divine Principle,—is unfolding Life and the universe, ever present and eternal. 

“God’s man, spiritually created, is not material and mortal” (p. 306).

I began to realize that by holding this mortal view, I was accepting the jarring testimony as real. Correcting this was my responsibility, not the other person’s.

I asked myself what it was that I was fleeing. Was it the man of God’s creating? Clearly not. I saw that when we take offense, we are acting from a material sense of things, which can foster pride, self-will, and egotism. We are viewing as mortal not only others but ourselves as well. Overcoming this takes humility—a willingness to lay down a false sense of ourselves and others. An article titled “Taking Offense” published in Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896 by Mrs. Eddy says, “Nothing short of our own errors should offend us” (p. 224).

I began to feel the heavenly peace of divine Love with me everywhere.

Holding ourselves to the higher standard of Christ, God’s spiritual ideal, we can affirm our oneness with our Maker, God. We can know that our true selfhood is fully spiritual and therefore impervious to material thinking, which has no source, no author, and thus no manifestation. God is the only source, and our true selfhood emanates from Him. 

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus asks, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3, New International Version). Similarly, the Apostle Paul admonishes us, “At whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things” (Romans 2:1, NIV).

Doing the same things? Wow, yes! At times I had been so mesmerized by the offenses of others that I had reacted unpleasantly. The temptation to fixate on, ruminate about, or relate to others what had happened to me had been strong. But through prayer, I saw that what gets “under our skin” and disturbs our peace is not the individual of God’s creating but an acceptance of the false belief that mortal man is real. This mistaken view is an imposition on our thinking, and that is where we must deal with it. 

With a newfound willingness to be humble, I began looking for any positive traits others were expressing, such as an artistic flair, persistence, insight, loyalty, or kindness. Even if I found just one such attribute, I dwelt on it, knowing such qualities are not sourced in matter but are instead evidence of divine Spirit, God. Soon I began to see the Christ, rather than a mortal personality, in my neighbor. 

Because God is All, there is nothing outside of Him. Nothing can taint God’s perfect expression, immortal man. There is no evil source to create an imperfect mortal, nor any evil to hypnotically tempt man to believe in an inharmonious expression of God. In this light we can see all as God-expressing individuals, upright and pure. By doing so, we have let Love wash them clean in our thought.

Holding a false view of our neighbors is mental malpractice. Alternatively, holding to the true, spiritual view blesses them—and us. Our willingness to do this is Love in action. Let’s let the pure waters of Love flow freely in our consciousness, washing clean our view of ourselves and all who come to our thought. 

As I did this, I began to feel the heavenly peace of divine Love with me everywhere. I no longer felt the need to escape from other people, but could love them and be undisturbed by off-putting behavior. I have even seen unpleasant behaviors diminish as I have applied these truths. 

Whether in the home, church, business, or life in general, seeing others as God sees them is freeing—for us as well as others.