It is nearly impossible to watch television, listen to the radio, or read a newspaper or magazine these days without having one's attention focused on the question of health. While each of us should be interested in good health, much of what we see and hear leaves anxiety, confusion, and doubt in its wake. We are warned of the symptoms and prevalence of various diseases, of the dangers of eating certain foods or of not eating others, of too little or too much exercise.

A much more effective approach is exemplified in the life of Christ Jesus, who, the Gospels tell us, healed "all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people." ^{Matt. 4:23.} Frequently the Master encouraged those he helped or healed to not be afraid, as when he raised from the dead the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue. ^{See Luke 8:49–56.} Illustrating the fact that God is Love, Jesus assured his followers of God's readiness and willingness to restore harmony, saying, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." ^{Luke 12:32.}

An understanding of divine Love was central to Jesus' healing works. God, divine Love, "casteth out fear," ^{I John 4:18.} to use the Bible's words. In Mrs. Eddy's search to understand the healings Jesus did, she was led to see why casting out fear is so important. She writes in her book Science and Health: "The procuring cause and foundation of all sickness is fear, ignorance, or sin. Disease is always induced by a false sense mentally entertained, not destroyed. Disease is an image of thought externalized. The mental state is called a material state. Whatever is cherished in mortal mind as the physical condition is imaged forth on the body." ^{Science and Health, p. 411.}

I have read that passage many times, but recently the word cherished suddenly stood out to me. "Cherish a physical condition?" I asked myself, "Why would anyone want to do that? Especially a painful or unpleasant one!" But I had learned that Mrs. Eddy was very careful in her choice of words. Reminiscences relate that in her work on Science and Health she prayed, often for long periods of time, waiting for God's guidance to help her bring out the exact meaning of what she was learning of Christian healing. So I knew that this word had a lesson for me. One definition I found for cherish is "to hold dear; treat with affection and tenderness ... to keep fondly in mind."

As I thought about this meaning, I recalled the many times I had heard people describe with great detail their diseases. Why, I thought, that is precisely what they were doing: cherishing those unpleasant or painful conditions. At this point, however, it occurred to me that I was much like the Pharisee in one of Jesus' parables, who said, "God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are ...." ^{Luke 18:11.}

I had to admit I didn't always follow the wise guidance in Science and Health: "Treat a belief in sickness as you would sin, with sudden dismissal." ^{Science and Health, p. 218.} Had I always been alert to see that sickness is a false belief of mortal mind, that it is a temptation to believe in some power or intelligence apart from God? Had I not "mentally entertained" this false belief, calling the mental state a material state? Had I not cherished these false beliefs as physical conditions and found them "imaged forth on the body"? I had to admit that I had, and I was quite chagrined at my discovery. But this feeling was soon replaced by a deep sense of gratitude that Truth and Love had exposed this error and would destroy it.

"What is the remedy?" I asked myself. Obviously, we need to replace this wrong sense of cherishing with a right sense. What is that right sense? What should we cherish? Again, the example of Christ Jesus provides the answer. Jesus told a certain lawyer that the greatest commandment in the law is "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." The Master added that the second commandment was like the first: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." ^{See Matt. 22:35–39.}

But how does one go about loving God with all the heart, soul, and mind, and loving one's neighbor as oneself? Surely this involves understanding and cherishing what God and man truly are and refusing to fear or honor any power other than God.

Since God is infinite Love, there is no boundary or limit to Love. As we hold dear the allness of infinite Love, realizing that divine Love watches over, cares for, and maintains its creation, man, we discern that there is no place for Love's opposite, no place for disease to originate and no power to sustain it. We, as human parents, love our children with a deep and lasting love. We want them to experience only that which is beneficial and uplifting. Can we believe that the one Father-Mother of all— ever-present, all-powerful Love—would afflict us or create anything that could cause us to suffer? Such a notion is unthinkable, unbelievable, and simply untrue. Nor can man, who the Bible tells us is created in the image and likeness of God, Love, be other than pure, loving, and obedient—spiritually whole. Is not this man, the loving expression of His being, complete, spiritual? And is not spiritual manhood what we are to cherish in ourselves and our neighbor?

This new understanding of the meaning of cherishing has made me much more aware of the need to watch my thoughts and actions very carefully. When I catch myself cherishing false concepts, I find healing and regeneration by being obedient to the two great commandments upon which "hang all the law and the prophets." ^{Matt. 22:40.}

If we are busy loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and loving others as ourselves, we will more readily cast off, rather than cherish, a harmful concept of ourselves and our neighbors as mortals who are separated from our creator and vulnerable to disease, sin, fear. Then we can be sure that this loving, healthy mental state will be "imaged forth on the body." We'll express more of the perfection of being, the kingdom of heaven, which Jesus tells us it is the Father's good pleasure to give us.

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any .... And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

Colossians 3:12–14