When Christ Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?" John 21:15 could he not have meant, "Simon, lovest thou Christliness more than worldliness?" This illustrates the need to gain a love for the things of Spirit and to base our love, not only for the Saviour but for everyone, on a spiritual foundation.
The Leader of the Christian Science movement is Mary Baker Eddy, a devout follower of Christ Jesus. The love Christian Scientists feel for their Leader should not be emotional adoration of her personality. Rather it should have a strong, spiritual basis; it should be a gentle affection, a great sense of admiration and gratitude, as well as the highest respect for one who was spiritually prepared to receive the revelation of Christian Science as well as to experience such tribulation as Mrs. Eddy endured while giving to this age the healing message of the Christ. She herself ruled out entertaining a merely personal sense of love in a letter written to a student who showed an inclination to deify her. She wrote, ". . . let our love for one another continue steadfast, established on Christian Science, on Principle and not on a person."Robert Peel, Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Authority (Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Society, originally published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977), p. 334
Love for our Leader and a recognition of what she accomplished open the door to a more comprehensive understanding of her writings, revealing man's true selfhood as the child of God, the very expression of divine Love itself. As this understanding expands, it changes thought from a sense of superiority or self-aggrandizement to a deep feeling of humility. This causes one to respond to the Biblical admonition "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves." Phil. 2:3
