Original in German

How we yearn to live as children of God, to express only goodness, to not injure our neighbor or let ourselves get carried away into making thoughtless remarks. But it isn't easy to keep control over oneself when, to all appearances, one has been wronged. We may indeed want to return good for evil, but often something within keeps us from doing so. We could say, with Paul, "The good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do."

Paul termed this resistance to good "the carnal mind." He clearly recognized this resistance of the mortal, or carnal, mind as no part of man's true nature, for he continues, "Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me" (Rom. 7:19, 20; 8:7).

When someone has wronged us, mortal mind whispers to us, "Don't take that! Resist!" Only too often we listen to these suggestions and let ourselves be carried away into making remarks that are shameful for a Christian. It requires humility and moral strength to overcome evil with good.

Christ Jesus' earnest disciples, too, sometimes let themselves be influenced wrongly. In Luke it is related that Jesus was traveling through Samaria with his disciples. When they wanted to arrange lodging for him, the Samaritans did not take him in. Outraged at this, the disciples turned to their Master and asked, "Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?" But Jesus rebuked such vengeful thoughts. He replied: "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." The Bible account then states simply, "And they went to another village" (Luke 9:51–56).

It may seem incredible to us that James and John, who, after all, were among our Master's most loyal followers, cherished such vengeful thoughts. The Master, our example in all things, did not allow himself to be provoked; he simply went to another village. But do we always conduct ourselves as he did? Aren't we rather too easily annoyed when some wrong is done to us? In fact, don't we usually believe our anger our anger is justified? How important it then is to recall "what manner of spirit [we] are of."

In this Bible passage the word spirit describes a state of consciousness, but Spirit—as a proper name—is God. Since there is only one God, there is only one Spirit. In truth we are the offspring of the one Spirit, God, reflecting only pure and good, spiritual qualities. We can demonstrate our true nature by more consistently expressing love to our fellowman, forgiving his misconduct toward us, and being of help to him rather than allowing envy, hate, or revenge to have room in our consciousness.

The Bible, in the light of Christian Science, gives us the true concept of God and His creation; it reveals man as God's image and likeness, spiritual and perfect. But do we always think and act on the basis of the perfection of God and man? Mortal mind uses every opportunity to make us waver. It suggests to us that we are fallible mortals, children of wrath far removed from being God's loving children. We must resist such evil influences and constantly strive to do good alone.

Sometimes we will undoubtedly ask ourselves, "Is all this effort to be good and loving to others worth it? Isn't it more comfortable to allow myself to drift along in the current of general thought?" It may seem "more comfortable" to go along with mortal mind's suggestions, but doing this will inevitably lead to suffering, for it denies God, good. If we lead a life of obedience to God, however, we then experience innumerable blessings.

When we meet up with difficulties and go through hard experiences, we should think of our Master. He did not allow himself to deviate from God's direction. Mrs. Eddy, referring to Jesus' steadfast obedience to God, writes in Science and Health: "'Despised and rejected of men,' returning blessing for cursing, he taught mortals the opposite of themselves, even the nature of God; and when error felt the power of Truth, the scourge and the cross awaited the great Teacher. Yet he swerved not, well knowing that to obey the divine order and trust God, saves retracing and traversing anew the path from sin to holiness" (p. 20).

If we should ever leave this path at some point and fall back into old mistakes, we shouldn't become discouraged and reproach ourselves. Through fervent prayer we can turn again to divine Love. We'll then receive the strength to lift ourselves up again and, thus strengthened, make progress in spiritual understanding and unselfed love.

Without our consent, evil has no power to control us. It is at base nothing but the false belief that there is more than one Mind, more than one God, and that this so-called mind can create and perpetuate sin. But Christian Science frees us from this false belief and leads to harmony. It leads us out of bondage to sin, sickness, fear, and animosity and establishes health and purity and spiritual love. The way may seem very long and arduous at times, but divine Love illumines it and causes us to hasten toward the goal with lighter steps.

Christian Science helps us see that the true man is created in Love's image and likeness; that he has no element of evil but always reflects the glory of God. We can never lose our true identity or our ability to express Love.