Humility, not reaction
When things seem unfair or deeply disturbing, it can be so easy to be frustrated and to react with anger. I’ve been there. When we feel that things have gone terribly wrong or that we’ve been wronged, there must be a better way to respond than with finger-pointing, self-righteousness, or outrage.
We can find a healing answer in a Bible account. Jesus’ disciples were afraid. Things were going very badly, and Jesus was being arrested. Peter, one of the disciples, felt he should fight back. He drew a sword and attacked, cutting off the ear of one of those sent to arrest the Master. What did Jesus do? He rebuked the disciple and restored the man’s ear (see Luke 22:49-51).
It can seem justifiable when disheartened or angry to react by lashing out in some way, but Jesus taught something different. He exemplified a wonderful humility and lack of desire for vengeance. His impulse was to do good – to heal – rather than to revel in Peter’s violent act or react harshly to the aggression against him.
How do we follow Jesus in this way? We can express humility as he did. Humility is not a passive acceptance of evil. Instead, it is the willingness to turn to God faithfully and diligently and yield our human opinions and impulses to the fact that God is, in reality, in complete control of our lives.
Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, wrote a powerful passage in her book “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” that helps explain how Jesus was able to bring healing to violent, sinful, and seemingly hopeless situations: “Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God’s own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick” (pp. 476-477).
Is it really possible for us to see this “perfect man”? Who is the perfect man?
God created this true identity of each of us in His own image and likeness, reflecting all the goodness, intelligence, and love of God. None of us is, in reality, a fearful or bullying human but each is instead the inheritor of Godlikeness, including integrity, innocence, and kindness.
Beholding the perfect man comes as we humbly give up our limited, human conceptions of one another with our personal likes and dislikes and strive to understand that the identity that God created is wholly spiritual, His own precious child, and that we are all brothers and sisters under this divine parentage. All of God’s children are unified under His government, not defined by human upbringing or susceptible to vitriol.
This understanding brings to the fore the spiritual sense of being that is actually innate to each of us. This quiets anger, self-righteousness, and even a sense of victimization by recognizing that these traits are not components of God’s, Spirit’s, creation. When a sense of the world as hopeless tries to push us around through fear, worry, discouragement, pain, or feeling like a failure, we can bow before God and His true view of everyone. And we find that this spiritual sense is powerful enough to renew hope and uplift or correct any circumstance.
Mrs. Eddy gave this great advice to her students: “Cherish humility, ‘watch,’ and ‘pray without ceasing,’ or you will miss the way of Truth and Love. Humility is no busybody: it has no moments for trafficking in other people’s business, no place for envy, no time for idle words, vain amusements, and all the et cetera of the ways and means of personal sense” (“Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896,” pp. 356-357).
Cherishing humility is realizing its utter importance in our lives and allowing it to override disappointment and anger and bring in the healing balm of divine Love. Personal sense, the stubborn desire to have things go our own way no matter what, is a hypnotic urge that tends to retaliate when challenged. Humility confronts this willfulness by opening our heart to divine Truth, Life, and Love – to God. Anger melts before a loving heart; confusion disappears before kindness and truthful reasoning; and we find comfort and safety in admitting the allness of divine Life and Love.
Having the humility to trust God and loving another as God’s child can heal rifts and disappointments of all kinds. Genuine humility forgives, consoles, and leads into new opportunities, bringing out the boundless possibilities of God, good.
Adapted from an editorial published in the Dec. 2, 2024, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.
