Shaping the news
I used to assume there was little if anything an individual could do about national or world events -- that they just happened independently of anything most of us might think or do. But as I became better acquainted with Christ Jesus' teachings, my viewpoint changed.
Certainly Jesus' career illustrated the might of prayer to heal even the most stubborn conditions. Through divine power he brought harmony to situations in which a positive outcome seemed improbable if not impossible. And his healing power wasn't restricted to those in his presence. Whether stilling a storm or healing disease, Jesus corrected limited, fearful human thinking through the power of the Christ. He healed the unenlightened states of thought that underlie, and are expressed in, discord.
Jesus told his disciples, and all of us who strive to follow his example, "Ye are the light of the world." n1 Every day we have a fresh opportunity to reflect , at least ot some degree, the light of pure Christianity, both in our own surroundings and in the sphere of local, national, and world affairs. In a very real sense, then, we can help shape the news through our Christianity.
n1 Matthew 5:14.
For example, if we hear a report of violent crime, we have a choice as to how we respond. We can get upset, be fearful, accept crime as an irreversible fact -- or we can help bring healing to the situation. If we choose the first response, we're letting the news shape us. If we choose the second response, we can help shape events to conform more to the natural harmony of God's creation.
How? In two ways, both of which are aspects of prayer.
To begin with, we can make a greater effort to express in our own lives the very qualities that will counteract and destroy crime -- or whatever the problem may be. This is an active, effective standpoint, because what we're counteracting is not so much persons and places as states of thought. We're confronting hate, selfishness, dissatisfaction, lust, with the power of God expressed in purity, meekness, compassion, and so forth. Because these God-derived qualities have the might of divine law behind them, they're a potent moral and spiritual force, as Jesus' entire life illustrated.
A second step we can take, another aspect of prayer, is to actively realize the true nature of God and his creation. The man of God's creating can't be -- and isn't -- an animalistic mortal governed by wicked impulses. He's the spiritual image of divine Love, motivated and governed by Love alone. His thoughts and feelings come from God, the one Mind, not from a finite, irrational , mortal mentality.
But the very opposite often seems true. That's why we're obliged through prayer to insist on the truth of man as God has made him. This isn't mere wishful thinking. Prayer is a mighty healing force that helps bring to light the harmony of reality, temporarily hidden by sinful thought.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes, "It is neither Science nor Truth which acts through blind belief, nor is it the human understanding of the divine healing Principle as manifested in Jesus, whose humble prayers were deep and conscientious protests of Truth, -- of man's likeness to God and man's unity with Truth and Love." n2
science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,m p. 12.
Today we can help shape the news rather than be shaped by it. Through our thoughts and lives we can begin to fulfill Jesus' ideal for us and be "the light of the world." DAILY BIBLE VERSE Pray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 5:17
