What’s the assignment?

In a commencement address this past spring, an American TV host and author reminded the graduating class of one of the hallmarks of their generation: recognizing and calling out the systems and institutions they feel need fixing. But, he added, the assignment isn’t to deconstruct but to reconstruct. In other words, we help our communities not by simply pointing out the problems but by participating in fixing them. By helping to heal and rebuild.

Doesn’t this apply to all of us – college students or not? We live in a time when opinions, “hot takes,” and personal commentary are a regular part of how we relate to the world and each other. But how do we shift from being mainly observers and deconstructors to being participants and reconstructors? It starts with our standpoint.

If you’re interested in discovering more about this standpoint, you might think of Jesus as the model. Jesus definitely wasn’t afraid to call out the things he saw as needing redemption – hypocrisy, ego, immorality, greed, and injustice, to name a few. But it is the intent behind his observations that’s so noteworthy. As the best representative of God’s redeeming power that the world has ever known, Christ Jesus, in his own words, did “not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). He came to demonstrate the law of divine Love. Rather than tearing down or shaming others, Jesus awakened, redeemed, and healed them.

While many might have responded to the bad stuff with cynicism, Jesus saw that whatever appeared ugly or unredeemed about someone’s character was an incorrect perception of who they were. And instead of getting disheartened about these traits, he saw through them to who the individual truly was as God’s son or daughter.

This didn’t just change the problematic behavior; it rebuilt lives. In the case of a tax collector who’d been stealing from his community for years, Jesus’ Christly view of this man brought redemption. It ended the stealing and impelled the man to make generous restitution to everyone he’d defrauded (see Luke 19:1-10).

Jesus ushered in a new view of not just who we are but what God is. If there were any truth to the stereotypical view that God is vengeful or inclined to punish, it might make sense that the path to progress would be about punishing and tearing down. But Jesus’ fulfillment of divine law was a revelation of an actual kingdom of heaven at hand – a universe of God’s, Love’s, creating, where each of us is the image of Love.

It’s on this basis that we can move from the echo chamber of opinions and criticism to both trust in Christ and confidence that this eternal voice of Truth can show us how to see others, our systems and institutions, and even global problems in a more healing light. This is the basis for the kind of change that all of us yearn to see in the world.

This wasn’t always obvious to me. My first couple of years in college, I often spent time with a group of friends who loved to talk about what our school should be doing better. But I was jolted one day when one of those friends laughingly told me that she loved my cynicism.

I didn’t want to be a cynic, so I began asking myself, “If cynicism isn’t the answer, what is?” I knew from attending a Christian Science Sunday School that the answer was love. But could love accomplish what “smarts” couldn’t?

It’s surprising how easy it is to be blinded by the belief that tearing down is more effective than recognizing and building on what’s good. But over and over during those same college years, I’d experienced healings with my friends and professors – always when I let divine Love imbue my thoughts. Love is the power that quiets our fears so we can love others enough to heal a misunderstanding. Love is the presence that comforts our broken hearts so we can begin seeing the goodness in ourselves and others that may not always be apparent.

That recognition was a turning point in my prayers, and though it’s not as if I’ve never dealt with cynicism again, knowing what Love is and does has been a solid foundation to build on.

“Love is reflected in love,” wrote Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of The Christian Science Monitor (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 17). When it feels difficult to see past what needs fixing, it’s comforting to recognize that love is innate to each of us – part of our true, spiritual nature. And it’s because we are sourced in Love that we are inevitably impelled beyond opinions to loving thoughts and constructive actions. Love compels us to heal. This, you could say, is our ultimate “assignment.” And we were each created entirely capable of fulfilling it.

Adapted from an editorial published in the July 29, 2024, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.