Cherishing man is a healing activity. It is not based on mortal feelings we may or may not have for another but on spiritual understanding. Divinely inspired cherishing calls for us to realize and accept man's God-given nature. Any mortal perception of our fellowman we're holding on to needs to be relinquished. Man's identity, his makeup, is spiritual and good. This ideal nature, the very expression of God, has no flaw. It doesn't include emotional highs and lows or the aberrations of material personality. Loving rightly and healing demand that we nurture our understanding—our acceptance, really—of this spiritual identity.
Isn't this what the Master, Christ Jesus, did? For example, when the armed multitude came to lead him away to the high priest on the night before Jesus' crucifixion, his disciple Peter struck out with his sword and cut off the ear of one of them, the high priest's servant. But Jesus immediately healed the man! Peter's act may seem logical to contentious mortal reasoning. It would appear he had good cause to feel righteous indignation or self-justification. But these are destructive qualities, not a healing response. Whereas Jesus' response was always to heal. He didn't feel threatened by another's actions or words. What was he cherishing in thought? It must have been spiritual facts. When we hold these facts in thought, they are an impetus to right action.
The Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, gives clear guidance to one seeking to recognize and understand God and man. There Mrs. Eddy states, "Man is God's reflection, needing no cultivation, but ever beautiful and complete."Science and Health, p. 527. How consistently are we cherishing this ideal of true manhood? To love this ideal is to follow Christ Jesus' course of Christian healing.
