Loving our brother, even when it’s not easy
Bullies, wrongdoers, adversaries – is the world filled with villains? Here’s what the Bible says: “God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).
Boy, can it feel hard to reconcile that statement with the evil we hear reported, or even experience firsthand. But there’s a spiritual perspective we can gain from the Bible that gives us a different view of the people around us. When we reason from the scriptural basis that everyone is made in the image of God, who is divine Love, it makes sense that we are all loving – that everyone is truly good.
The archives of The Christian Science Publishing Society, which publishes the Monitor, have many articles that show how each individual’s spiritual goodness is available for us to see and love. Here’s a selection of them.
When someone persistently mistreats us, turning to the goodness that truly identifies them helps transform the situation, as a group of eighth graders experienced in “Can prayer stop a bully?”
The author of “Healing pain with spiritual truth” needed to see that even controversial political leaders have to be viewed with spiritual love, not anger or hatred – and in doing that he found healing.
“The truth that sets us free to forgive” discusses how a recognition that God perfectly governs and blesses His spiritual creation, frees us to forgive without inhibition, and even restores a right relationship.
Even when there’s anger directed at us, we can let divine Love meet everyone’s need and show us the practicality of recognizing the present reality of spiritual harmony, “A deeper kindness” reveals.
