The world, seeking for happiness, has long considered love as one of its principal aids in the quest, although it is constantly finding its false sense of love crumbling into ashes. When this stage is reached, many people turn to God, in whom they have believed to a certain extent, and cry out vainly for His help to restore to them something which, because of its mistaken basis, never was more than an illusion. God, the loving Father-Mother of us all, sent His Son, Christ Jesus, to reveal, illustrate, and interpret to mankind by his life and words the meaning of divine Love. Jesus once told an inquirer that "the first and great commandment" was to love God supremely, and that the second was "like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
We may read the well-known parable of the good Samaritan and say, I would never be so callous as to refuse to aid one in such dire distress as was the man who "fell among thieves"! This may be true, but in the light which Christian Science sheds on the story, the requirement goes much deeper than the giving of mere physical aid.
We are being neighbor to anyone who heeds help when we are knowing that all true selfhood is exactly as God sees it, and this does not exclude anyone. Mrs. Eddy has written on page 570 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "Millions of unprejudiced minds—simple seekers for Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert—are waiting and watching for rest and drink. Give them a cup of cold water in Christ's name, and never fear the consequences." This cup of truth may be given in many ways. It may be just an encouraging word or a smile accompanied by the thought of man's spiritual perfection as God's child. Clear thinking based on the truth is imbued with the power to destroy error, and to improve and even heal an unhappy situation.
