The Good Side- The Only Side

A good side, a bad side. Good points and bad points. Too often, a mixture of good and evil in people is portrayed as the norm. But this state of affairs is not normal. And believing that it is is what's at the root of all discouragement and depression. Here lies an open invitation for trouble.

Every day you and I are presented with a world that includes both good and evil. Sometimes this reminds me of a familiar childhood rhyme. As I recall, it went something like this: "There was a little girl, who had a little curl / right in the middle of her forehead. / When she was good, she was very, very good, / but, when she was bad, she was horrid!" Although that does seem to depict the way people can be, it does not actually depict their true nature.

We were all created spiritually by God to express Him in infinite ways. And these infinite ways do not include a single element of evil. We express God in beauty, harmony, order, integrity, intelligence, sweetness, kindness, and activity, just to name a few ways.

Seven synonyms for God are found in the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy: Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Life, Truth, and Love (see p. 587). As God's children we express the beauty of Soul, the order of Principle, the integrity of Truth, the kindness of Love, and on and on.

Throughout the first chapter of Genesis, which tells the spiritual account of creation, all that God made-the earth, the heavens, the seas, the animals, and we ourselves-He identified as wholly good, just like Himself. Evil is not included in God's creation. Turning to God, we can destroy evil by correcting false concepts. Then healing results in our lives. Let me give you one example.

I woke one morning to find that one side of my face was swollen, painful, and wholly congested. Knowing that thought determines physical experience, I turned wholeheartedly to God in prayer. As I prayed, I thought of an individual I had been working with closely. I liked him but had been noticing there was one side of his character that was very lovable and generous, while another side was not always very principled. It became clear to me that morning that I had been believing this man actually had both a good side and a bad side.

I proceeded to erase that image from my thought, replacing it with the spiritual understanding Christian Science had given me that the child of God's creating must be entirely good, expressive only of God's perfect nature and qualities. I reasoned that God is All. He is One and indivisible. It followed that we reflect all the goodness of God, lacking it in no way. I had already seen that my friend reflected God as Love. Therefore he must also reflect God as Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Life, and Truth. I realized this must be true, even if I had not been able to see it.

Well, just as quickly as I understood more clearly the true nature of my friend, my own physical condition improved. It seemed amazing, and yet I knew it was natural, in conformity with God's laws.

Neither sin, deterioration, sickness, disease, nor for that matter any unlovely condition or quality can ever be true of us. God's creation, the only creation, is spiritual, perfect, eternal.

We are never dealing with real evil, no matter how awful things appear to be. We are dealing with correctable thought patterns. Healing occurs, as it always does, when we perceive the fact of God's wholly good creation in the way Jesus did. We have the ability to follow in his footsteps.

Now we exhort you,

brethren . . . be patient toward

all men. See that none

render evil for evil

unto any man; but ever

follow that which is good,

both among yourselves,

and to all men.

I Thessalonians 5:14, 15