It is no wonder that parents and educators today feel daunted. Often they are confronted with a baffling rejection of authority and disrespect for experience. So how can they begin to help equip the coming generation with all it is going to need to cope with the growing complexities of modern living? To those among them who are committed to Christianity it would be natural to turn to Christ Jesus, the greatest teacher of all time, to learn from his example. "For he taught . . . as one having authority," the Gospels tell us, "and not as the scribes." ^{Matt. 7:29;}

How did Jesus achieve the unassuming authority that so strikingly distinguished him from the usual teachers of his day—from the very men at whose feet his parents had found him sitting as a twelve–year–old in the temple? His authority surely lay in his clear awareness of who he was. He knew that God, Spirit, was his Father and that he existed solely to fulfill his Father's purpose. "How is it that ye sought me?" he asked his parents in surprise, "wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" ^{Luke 2:49;}

During the unrecorded years that followed, Jesus' awareness of his spiritual, Christly identity must have become increasingly clear. At his baptism in the river Jordan he received the heavenly benediction, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." ^{Matt. 3:17;} Then in the wilderness he learned to resist the wily pressures of materiality that would have nullified his clear self–knowledge, his divine purpose. Only when he had proved his ability to resist this false mental influence did he embark upon his public teaching.

And how did Jesus teach his disciples? Basically through love. Shortly before the final episode in his earthly career Jesus gave them a new commandment: "That ye love one another, as I have loved you." ^{John 15:12;} If one ponders his life of preparation and dedication in the light Christian Science throws upon it, one begins to understand a little how Jesus had loved them. Surely he had loved them by knowing them as he had first learned to know himself—as the loved of God, divine Love, made in Love's likeness, spiritual and immortal, untouched by the destructive influences of aggressive materiality.

"For their sakes I sanctify myself," Jesus said of his disciples, "that they also might be sanctified through the truth." ^{17:19 ;} More than once in his public ministry he retired into the wilderness or up into the mountains to commune with God, the one Spirit, or Mind. Only as his thought was the still, clear reflection of that Mind could he refute the world's material misconception of man as mortal, and see or love his neighbor as himself—spiritual, perfect, and free.

Mary Baker Eddy writes: "With our Master, life was not merely a sense of existence, but an accompanying sense of power that subdued matter and brought to light immortality, insomuch that the people 'were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.'" ^{Retrospection and Introspection, p. 58;} Through what constant, persistent consecration and self–immolation were that vision and authority attained!

How important it is for a parent or educator to pray daily for himself in Jesus' way, to learn first of all to love and understand his own true, Christly nature. It is particularly easy, when one is deeply concerned with the welfare of others, to neglect this vital self–preparation. Yet without it, how can one recognize and cherish the Christly identity of those in his care?

I once asked a dedicated painter and art teacher whether it was possible to detect a future genius when teaching children, and I have never forgotten his reply. "Every child," he maintained, "is a potential genius. But it is rarely possible for a teacher to assess whether the divine spark will burn with sufficient strength to survive the world's materialism."

Perhaps some young people's present–day rejection of their elders' proffered help may indicate the instinctive struggle of that 'divine spark' to survive the materialism crowding in upon it. But in the light of Jesus' example, and through Christian Science, one can do much to help them.

One who is consistently keeping the window of his own consciousness unclouded by materialism can really support and cherish the Christly identity of a young person as it emerges from binding, belittling, material misconceptions. Such an individual does not set out to make over troublesome young minds into passable adult ones. Rather by humbly identifying himself first as reflecting God's nature, he is able to recognize the God–given individuality unfolding irresistibly in the young. He respects their spiritual discernment and intuition, irrespective of their age.

Such a parent or educator imparts true self–confidence to young people because he trusts the Godlike qualities with which they are endowed to determine for each one of them his or her own happy and constructive individual experience. He does not seek to impose his adult personal will upon young or adolescent wills but expects and respects young people's ability to listen for and obey God's will as sincerely as he himself tries to listen and obey. At the same time, he does not hesitate to rebuke, impersonally and consistently, false habits and characteristics that would hide not only his charges' true individuality but also his own. Then, because he does not demand of the young what he does not demand of himself, his authority tends to be respected and his example followed spontaneously.

Mrs. Eddy lays down the basis for such education when she declares in Science and Health, the Christian Science textbook, "Man is properly self–governed only when he is guided rightly and governed by his Maker, divine Truth and Love." ^{Science and Health, p. 106.}

This proper self–government on the part of parent or educator who really takes time to pray daily for himself is not self–righteous. It is buoyant, sincere, and humble; it is consistent, free from extremes either of harshness or overleniency in its dealings with others. The young recognize this God–government instantly and respond to it. They feel secure in its presence and, feeling secure, do not resist the demands implicit in the textbook's preceding statement, namely, that "God has endowed man with inalienable rights, among which are self–government, reason, and conscience."

Accepting this endowment, equipped with these inalienable rights, coming generations, too, can learn to live with Christly confidence, as those "having authority."