At a Christian Science lecture I attended, the lecturer shared an experience he’d had leading an outdoor adventure course for youth. A young man in the course persistently displayed hostility toward him and the rest of the group. However, the lecturer refused to accept this behavior as a reflection of that individual’s true nature. Before long, the young man’s disposition and behavior changed completely. He became cooperative and friendly.
I found this story so inspiring. It clearly illustrated how we are to see in everyone what Christ Jesus saw in others: their true, Christly nature—God’s goodness shining through them. Instead of accepting the false picture of a mortal with an aggressive personality, we are to recognize only the reality that all being is spiritual and that every individual idea of God is harmonious and eternal. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy states, “Let discord of every name and nature be heard no more, and let the harmonious and true sense of Life and being take possession of human consciousness” (p. 355).
We are to see in everyone what Christ Jesus saw in others: God’s goodness shining through them.
