Christian Discipleship

No one, surely, can be in doubt as to the meaning of Christ Jesus’ words recorded in John’s Gospel, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John himself certainly understood their purport, for in his first epistle he writes, in his own wonderfully tender way, “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” Yes, the gospel of the Master is the gospel of divine Love; and the gospel of the disciples is the gospel of divine Love.

Sometimes one hears it said that Christian Science is a loveless religion; that its adherents are lukewarm in their sympathies and affections; that they have substituted for the understanding of God as the tender Father of all, a concept of Him as Principle, cold and inscrutable. Nothing could be farther from the truth. To the Christian Scientist, God is indeed unalterable Principle, but He is also Love, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Truth, Life—even the one perfect Father-Mother of the universe, including individual man. It is this perfect God, divine Love, that the Christian Scientist acknowledges as supreme over all, and seeks to obey. And he knows that in so far as he fails to measure up to the test set by the words of Jesus quoted above, he undoubtedly falls short of the standard of Christian discipleship established by the Master.

In the consideration of every question dealing with the Christian life, Christian Science always brings one back to fundamentals. Thus, in considering true Christian discipleship one is greatly helped by reflecting upon the true relationship existing between God and the real man. What is this relationship? It is, as Christian Science shows and as the Bible declares, that man is the image, likeness, or reflection of God. And since God is Love, man is the reflection of Love. In her Message to The Mother Church for 1902 Mrs. Eddy writes (p. 8): “Is it necessary to say that the likeness of God, Spirit, is spiritual, and the likeness of Love is loving? When loving, we learn that ‘God is Love.’ ” Then she goes on to say that “mortals hating, or unloving, are neither Christians nor Scientists.”

Mrs. Eddy’s writings teem with allusions to God as Love, to the real spiritual man as the reflection of Love, and to the necessity of Christian Scientists’ demonstrating this truth in their lives. No one can lay legitimate claim to the name “Christian Scientist” who is vindictive, spiteful, unkind, unmerciful, unjust, untruthful, unloving. The rule of Christian discipleship is love one to another; and this, in the highest sense of the word “love.” History has many tragic tales to tell of the lovelessness of men, even of the inhumanity of men, to one another. What can one think, for instance, of the hatreds of so-called Christian nations that led them to bitter mental strivings and ended in relentless wars? Can it be said that Christian discipleship was in evidence then? Those who believe in the reality of evil and who practice evil are denying in the sublime truth that God is Love and His likeness loving.

While the Christian Scientist is sometimes acutely aware of his shortcomings, he never doubts the standard his religion has established for him. Christian Science tells him that perfection should be his goal, and that only a life of loving thoughtfulness and service is compatible therewith. And it is because so many Christian Scientists have understood this, and have striven to live according to their understanding, that Christian Science as a religion occupies the high place it does throughout the world to-day. How splendidly our beloved Leader refers to that system of religion which alone can meet with the approval of righteous men, in “The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany” (p. 258), when she writes: “What is it that lifts a system of religion to deserved fame? Nothing is worthy the name of religion save one lowly offering—love”!

What is it that always accompanies love—love, that is, which is the reflection of divine Love, and is free from the taint of earth? Healing! Let love be demonstrated, and all petty jealousies and misunderstandings and fears will disappear. Let love be demonstrated in one’s daily life of human contacts, and these will lose their harshness and become kindly and helpful—yea, healing. Let love be demonstrated in the sick room and the sick will experience the healing influence of divine Love. But without an understanding of the love of Love and of its power to destroy sin in all its supposititious forms, one is woefully helpless. To quote again from our Leader’s Message to The Mother Church for 1902 (p. 8): “No person can heal or reform mankind unless he is actuated by love and good will towards men.”

Christian Science is to-day proving to the world that sickness as well as sin can be healed by spiritual means—by spiritual understanding; but it should be remembered that this is possible only as its students are “actuated by love and good will towards men.” With the way so clearly defined, is there more than one course for us to pursue?