Forgive

HARRY WALKER

The writer has often meditated on the sacred meaning of the words, "Forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us," which Luke tells us Jesus gave to his disciples upon their request that he teach them how to pray. Considering the word "forgive," we find one meaning of it to be "cancel" or "obliterate."

In the old days, before the Science of Christianity gave him the necessary enlightenment, one seeker for Truth found that this forgiving or canceling brought with it the overwhelming and then apparently impossible task of carrying out the Golden Rule. It was not until the way, as revealed in Christian Science by our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, was practically and scientifically understood, that his attempt to forgive was successful, and he saw that this truly forgiving spirit could be brought into line with the turmoil of daily affairs, as Jesus intended.

It is only by perceiving perfect man as the image and likeness of God and as always present, even as did Jesus, that we can rise above the mist of materiality, and thus really love our neighbor as ourself. It is here we get the key to the problem. False sense and old beliefs must be obliterated by the comprehension of the man that God really made. Reflecting upon, and earnestly searching the Scriptures, gave to one student the joy that no man taketh away, and also the physical healing of a seeming discord which had resulted from a false sense of injured selfhood.

In studying the divine law of forgiving, as demonstrated by our great Exemplar, it is of high importance to note the fairness of the bargain; for just in proportion as we "forgive" or "cancel," are we forgiven, or our own sins canceled, with the accompanying healing.

Who of us is not desirous of being forgiven by our heavenly Father? Is not all disease, sin, and discord but false belief entertained of the true facts of spiritual Life, and of man's divine inheritance? Oh, what mighty instantaneous works would result if only the mandate of forgiving were carried out "in spirit and in truth;" for truly is forgiveness the handmaid of the Sermon on the Mount!

It is a divine law that "whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." The Science of Christ—Christian Science—alone can teach us how really to forgive, and thus demonstrate at-one-ment with harmony. When we have once grasped the fact that "spiritual man, made in God's likeness, reflects God," as Mrs. Eddy tells us on page 70 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," the task of expressing forgiveness becomes a joy, and we can take part in the heralding of good will and peace on earth to men. Only through the spirit of forgiving can we hope to meet our brother's need, and thus bring home the prodigal. The angry word, the seemingly hard condition, the harbored grievance, the injustice of devastating events and circumstances, become solvable only in the light of Christian Science.

It was surely the spirit of Truth which enabled the disciples to see man in his spiritual perfection, and which gave them at Pentecost the understanding to speak with other tongues, a divine understanding similar to that which enabled our Saviour to say on the cross, "Forgive them." It was this blessed forgiving spirit that enabled our Leader to overcome all obstacles and give to the world in her inspired writings the spiritual interpretation of the Bible.

We, as Christian Scientists, do well to cherish the gift of the Christ-forgiveness. And how blessed is the one who knows how to forgive, and to obey the divine injunction to "cancel," or heal, sin in himself and others. We must daily watch that the angel of forgiveness be entertained; for by doing so we shall be seeking our brother's happiness in the way our Leader advocates, even as the Magdalen sought Jesus. Truly this is the acme of Christianity, and the fulfilling of the law.

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