Back to Basics January 5, 2026 Issue

Blessings from the Ninth Commandment

The Ninth Commandment helped me become fully conscious of the beautiful, Godlike qualities that were innate in each child in my classroom.

Wendy Giersdorf

God’s laws govern man—meaning all men, women, and children—and the universe. Although our creator’s laws are perpetually in operation, we may be unaware of their eternal action and power unless we are relying on spiritual sense—our God-provided ability to perceive and understand Spirit, God.

Christ Jesus tells us, “You must not judge by the appearance of things but by the reality!” (John 7:24, J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English). Christian Science explains that the Savior saw and accepted things as divine Spirit causes them to be and knows them. This spiritual discernment enabled him to heal disease, redeem sinners, and raise the dead, proving to his followers that the limited view of the physical senses does not present what’s really going on. But how can we believe this when so much appears to be wrong in our world?

I realized I had been wanting to change the “bad” students rather than letting prayer change my own beliefs about them.