God's Bairns

NO one can say, justifiably, to anyone else, ``You're not God's child.'' Irrespective of language, color, race, religion, people everywhere have the same spiritual Father-Mother, the same spiritual creator, the same divine Principle, the same God. We're all God's spiritual expression, created equally. We're all God's children -- all God's bairns, to use an old word for children from my native Scottish. In the Bible, adults are sometimes referred to as children, children of God. So we're all God's bairns -- all God's children.

God is Life, Truth, and Love. God is Mind. God is Spirit. Spiritually, man is inseparable from God, his creator. When we consider ourselves from a spiritual standpoint, we are able to see ourselves as made in God's image and likeness -- as man is referred to at the beginning of the Bible.

Now, there's no question that we've got a lot to learn about our true, God-created selfhood. We can begin to sense what this selfhood is, however, by looking to Christ Jesus' life. Jesus, more than anyone else, demonstrated the spiritual truth of God and man. His living example and healing works illustrated man's perfect relationship to God. His unprejudiced compassion revealed a universal brotherhood and sisterhood of spiritual love.

In the well-known Biblical parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus told of a love that has no national or racial boundaries. The story is of a man who has been robbed and is lying wounded by the roadside. Spurned by those of his own race and religion, he is cared for by a stranger from a despised nation. The parable was told to a lawyer to clarify the meaning of the spiritual law ``Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.''1

Recently I took part in a local meeting of prayer for peace and justice in the world. Attending were Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, as well as Christians. We met in a spirit of mutual love and appreciation. When I spoke of this interfaith gathering to a friend a day or so later he asked me, ``Did you wear labels?''

I was pleased to reply, ``No. We had no labels.'' To me our lack of labeling badges symbolized the deeper unity and respect for one another we'd all felt. The gathering was a simple demonstration of the fact that we're all God's bairns, no matter what language we use or what clothing we wear.

But what about the hates and resentments that tend to simmer and erupt, all too often, in human society? These evils have to be dealt with and destroyed in a practical way. And the most effective way is through a growing understanding of our true identity as children of God. By living in accord with man's spiritual nature as the reflection of God, we are able to let the power of God bring healing to our affairs.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: ``Love has no sense of hatred. Life has no partnership with death. Truth, Life, and Love are a law of annihilation to everything unlike themselves, because they declare nothing except God.''2

Divine Love heals by destroying hatred, resentment, selfishness, fear. Our part is to individualize divine Love by reflecting and expressing love. Through our unselfish loving, we can glorify God and demonstrate the fact that we are, indeed, all God's bairns.

1Luke 10:27. 2Science and Health, p. 243.