When we love something, we want to share it, enjoy it with others, and see them benefit from it. When we love our faith, it’s natural to want to share that, too, and for the same reason.
In fact, the Bible’s book of Acts illustrates that sharing the gospel, the good news Jesus came to deliver, is a central aspect of being Christian. And while history tells us that sometimes groups acting in the name of Christianity have sought to rule over others, the acts of the apostles were not geared toward gaining political leverage.
Even when the politics of the day seemed to trample those trying to live and share the good news of Christ, the motivation of the early disciples didn’t change. They retained their heartfelt desire for others to so know God’s nature as to experience the liberty of life lived in conformity with Christ – the spiritual idea of God, revealing what is timelessly true.
Jesus himself is the model for the way to spread this truth. He relied solely on the “levers” of spiritual power: prayer, love, healing, humility, and, as he pointedly said, rendering “to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17). His life and the changed lives of those he healed showed that we see evidence of God’s kingdom on earth by understanding the all-spiritual creation that God, Spirit, forever sees. This proves that God’s kingdom is what is truly present, even where earthly discords seem to be.
We increasingly experience this heavenly kingdom as we follow Jesus’ example of living Love by demonstrating the reality of God as both Love and the Life of all. Still today, we can obey the guidance Jesus gave his followers when he sent them out to share the good news. The message was brief, infinitely sweet, and entirely spiritual: “As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 10:7).
The nature of the kingdom of heaven is clarified in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy. Using several synonyms for God, Science and Health defines “Kingdom of Heaven” as “the reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme” (p. 590). This forever here-and-now kingdom is our true, God-reflecting consciousness – the spirituality that knows God as All-in-all.
This heavenly kingdom isn’t an abstraction. We are seeing tangible evidence of it every time we feel genuine love for another, feel spiritual joy, feel the Christly sense of Truth’s supremacy over a lie, or feel the presence of sheer goodness in a quiet moment alone. As we recognize that this kingdom is indeed what we’re experiencing in such moments and seek to experience it more consistently, the question arises, “How do we help others do the same?”
The Christian manner in which to do so is summarized in timeless counsel from Mrs. Eddy to her students: “Let us serve instead of rule, knock instead of push at the door of human hearts, and allow to each and every one the same rights and privileges that we claim for ourselves” (“Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896,” p. 303).
The ultimate way to “serve instead of rule” as Jesus did is to emulate the example he gave us of loving our neighbor by more consistently demonstrating the healing Christ. A special touch of heaven comes to light on earth when the demonstration of Christ’s power brings healing – whether that’s victory over physical ailments or over some base human instinct. Each healing serves as evidence to humanity that Love’s heavenly harmony is our reality. And Jesus illustrated the universal scope of such service in the all-inclusive reach of the victory over mortality represented by his resurrection. According to Science and Health, “Jesus’ deed was for the enlightenment of men and for the salvation of the whole world from sin, sickness, and death” (p. 45).
Having early refused the temptation to trade his calling to serve Love for the trappings of earthly power, Jesus remained immune to being distracted from his healing mission of awakening others to God’s love for all. He knew the all-harmonious realm of the real better than anyone, and his healing ministry proved the eternal existence of that realm. This is the example he left for all time of how we can best share Christianity, the good news that the kingdom of heaven is all that is truly here on earth today.
Adapted from an editorial published in the May 18, 2026, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.
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