‘Shepherd, wash them clean’

Today there is an ever-growing need for us to be more loving toward one another. In public platforms, divisive rhetoric and false accusations are pervasive. In personal lives we see many relationships on edge. What will it take for us to learn to be more loving? The last verse of Mary Baker Eddy’s poem “‘Feed my Sheep’” offers a clue:

So, when day grows dark and cold,
     Tear or triumph harms,
Lead Thy lambkins to the fold,
     Take them in Thine arms;
Feed the hungry, heal the heart,
     Till the morning’s beam;
White as wool, ere they depart,
     Shepherd, wash them clean.
(“Poems,” p. 14)

What is it that washes away anger and hatred? When we are willing to set aside pride and self-righteousness and humbly seek God’s guidance, the true nature of God and His expression, man, is revealed in our hearts.

It might seem impossible to love in the face of hatred. It’s common to believe that to love someone is to enjoy being around them. But in calling us to love one another, was Jesus asking us to love a mortal personality, including one that is hateful and offensive?

The writings of Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, bring out the distinction between human personality and the spiritual nature we each have as man, the image and likeness of God. Her main work, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” states, “Personality is not the individuality of man,” “Man is idea, the image, of Love; he is not physique,” and, “Divine Love is infinite. Therefore all that really exists is in and of God, and manifests His love” (pp. 491, 475, 340).

Jesus’ example teaches us how to be more loving: by applying these truths in our daily lives and beholding God’s man or idea right where the mortal view sees only imperfection. It is this correct view of man as God’s expression that brings healing and enables us to love our neighbor.

At one point in my career, I was challenged by what I perceived as a colleague’s offensive personality. It seemed intolerable to continue working with this person. I found employment elsewhere, but no sooner had I settled into the new job than I was confronted with yet another offensive personality.

I began to realize that I needed to look more deeply into this issue from the Christianly metaphysical basis of divine Science. As I started to examine my own thought, I saw that I had been carrying around a view of man as mortal and material. By holding this mortal view, I was accepting the jarring testimony as real. Correcting this was my responsibility, not the other person’s.

I saw that when we take offense, we are acting from a material sense of things, which can foster pride, self-will, and egotism. We are viewing as mortal not only others but ourselves as well. This mistaken view is an imposition on our thinking, and that is where we must deal with it. This takes humility – a willingness to lay down a false sense of ourselves and others.

Holding ourselves to the higher standard of Christ, God’s spiritual ideal, we can affirm our oneness with our Maker, God. We can know that our true selfhood is fully spiritual and therefore impervious to material thinking, which has no source, no author, and thus no manifestation.

With a newfound willingness to be humble, I began looking for any positive traits others were expressing, such as an artistic flair, persistence, insight, loyalty, or kindness. Even if I found just one such attribute, I dwelt on it, knowing such qualities are not sourced in matter but are instead evidence of divine Spirit, God. Soon I began to see the Christ, rather than a mortal personality, in my neighbor.

Because God is All, there is nothing outside of Him. Nothing can taint God’s perfect expression, immortal man. In this light we can see all as God-expressing individuals, upright and pure. By doing so, we have let Love wash them clean in our thought.

As I did this, I began to feel the heavenly peace of divine Love with me everywhere. I no longer felt the need to escape from other people, but could love them and be undisturbed by off-putting behavior. I have even seen unpleasant behaviors diminish as I have applied these truths.

Whether in the home, church, business, or life in general, seeing others as God sees them is freeing – for us as well as others.

Adapted from an article published on sentinel.christianscience.com, Nov. 30, 2023.