Glossing over it doesn't heal
IT'S so easy to gloss over a mistake we've made, a fault we should overcome, dishonesty we're aware of at our workplace, a friend's or relative's bad behavior, a fear we're harboring but don't want to face -- but glossing over it doesn't heal. Sometimes it seems easier to pretend that something wrong is all right than to rout out the evil and prove its fraudulence. And evil is in the final analysis fraudulent, having no basis in truth, because God is good and He is infinite, as the Bible teaches. Yet evil's claim to be legitimate must not be ignored; it must be challenged and defeated. Covering evil is a mistake; it only grows more aggressive and destructive under the surface. ``He that covereth his sins shall not prosper,''1 the Bible says. Do we really want to deceive ourselves -- to be content with a false appearance rather than with the reality of good?
Christ Jesus said, referring to the devil, ``He is a liar, and the father of it.''2 The way to deal with a lie is not to turn away from it but to face it and tell the truth concerning it.
If we've made a mistake, we can correct it through God's help, because as the very Principle of the universe He supports every righteous effort through divine law. If we've uncovered dishonesty at the office, we can look to God for the wisdom and the strength to take the right steps to correct the situation. And sometimes the appropriate step may simply be to pray quietly about the situation until a resolution becomes apparent. If a loved one is unkind, we would do better to face the situation rather than try to ignore it or forget it. Regardless of the cause of conflict, it isn't actually related to God's offspring, who, expressing His nature, are totally loving. This understanding opens up the possibility of healing, whereas the gloss-over treatment encourages the error to fester.
If we're afraid we have a disease but merely push the fear aside and try not to think about it, we won't find healing. But we can gain the peace and freedom we desire as we realize in prayer that disease is no part of anyone's genuine being, because God never made it or permitted it. Neither fear nor disease has a divine cause; therefore both are illegitimate and can be destroyed by the power of God felt in prayer.
Mary Baker Eddy3 writes: ``The broadest facts array the most falsities against themselves, for they bring error from under cover. It requires courage to utter truth; for the higher Truth lifts her voice, the louder will error scream, until its inarticulate sound is forever silenced in oblivion.''4
Is it fear that causes us to want to gloss over evil rather than destroy its pretenses? Are we afraid error will scream louder as the truth is declared? Then we might remember that God's law of good is our protection. Mrs. Eddy puts it this way: ``Whatever it is your duty to do, you can do without harm to yourself.''5 This is a law. Disease and sin are spurious. They have no genuine law to sustain them. They have no origin, because they are not of God. They are lies about God and man, and lies are destroyed by truth-telling. The truth that God made all and made it good, that God made man in His own spiritual image, therefore pure and perfect -- this truth held to in prayer and understood can forward healing.
Each time we face evil and see it crumble before the might of divine Truth and Love, our fear of its claim is lessened. Each victory makes us stronger. We lose the desire to evade troubles or gloss over them. Instead, we turn to the power of Truth to obliterate whatever would deny God's allness.
1Proverbs 28:13. 2John 8:44. 3The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. 4Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,p. 97. 5Ibid., p. 385.
You can find more articles like this one in the Christian Science Sentinel, a weekly magazine. DAILY BIBLE VERSE: There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Luke 12:2
