Jesus said, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another" (John 13:34). Why did he say this was a new commandment? Since the Old Testament theology portrayed God as capable of wrath and vengeance as well as of love, it had no basis for teaching that individuals should love everyone. The New Testament that God is Love—Love that can never be less than Love, shining on all alike as does the sun—demands nothing less of us than universal love.
In accord with the Master's teaching, Christian Science also makes the unequivocal demand that we "love one another." God is Love, and He is Life. Therefore Life is Love. To partake of the divine Life, we must love; the two are inseparable. And to love is to express Love and nothing else —Love that includes all alike.
There are few individuals who have not had problems in human relationships. The test of our spirituality is in what we allow the problems to do to us. We can let ourselves become hard, embittered, resentful, hateful; we can indulge in self-pity, become a martyr to the situation; or we can take the Christlike way, "Love one another."
