Impersonalize Evil

"Your joy no man taketh from you," so reads the Scripture. This is not only a promise but an actual statement of fact, of Truth, to which may be applied Jesus' words, "If ye continue in my word . . . . ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." In this and the preceding chapter of John, Jesus was talking to his followers concerning the persecutions which they must suffer for righteousness' sake. He said: "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you," and, "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service," and, "Ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." In other words, though the man Jesus would no longer walk among them, they would perceive the Christ, Truth, and rejoice, so that no matter what trials they might have to undergo no man could rob them of their joy.

This Christ, Truth, is eternal and this promise of joy is perpetual to all those who perceive and understand it, no matter what trials and purifying fires may test and strengthen them. "But," one may say, "the world is full of earnest Christians who are following the Christ to the best of their understanding and who are nevertheless robbed of joy by the injustice and persecutions of men, both out in the world and among members of the same households." Now, although this may seem to be the case, are the suffering ones being robbed of their joy by those of whom they say, "If he would only do differently my problems would be so much lighter," or are they apparently being made miserable by their false concepts of these individuals? It is not our brother who is making our way difficult, but our wrong concept of brother, of God's man. When we realize the impersonal nature of evil and see the divine Mind's creation as Mind sees it, realizing that the discord apparently in it is but a distorted view of it, we shall find that our trouble is not in the action of some one else, but in our false concept of creation.

The forgiving thought of Joseph toward his brothers who sold him into Egypt, shows that in all they thought that they were doing to him he had recognized no persecutions of man but only the blessing of God; for when his brethren came to Egypt to buy corn, and remorse filled their hearts at the recognition of Joseph, whom they considered greatly wronged by them, he lovingly told them not to be grieved or angry with themselves, because it was God who had sent him to Egypt to preserve their lives later in the time of famine in their own land. He said to them, "So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God." The words of Jesus, "Your joy no man taketh from you," had been proved true in the case of Joseph, because instead of interpreting his being sold by his brothers into Egypt as the persecution of men, he joyfully saw only the divine activity of a loving Father, making it possible for him to bless his own and nourish them. It is the privilege and duty of Christian Scientists of to-day to recognize no activity nor presence nor power but Principle, just as did Joseph, and doing this they can easily prove the truth of the Master's saying, "Your joy no man taketh from you." Even though it may seem to them that some person or group of persons is selling them into Egypt (and Egypt represents fires of afflictions, as it did to Joseph) they can say in the spirit of loving forgiveness which recognizes no wrong done, "So now it is not person, but God, and not a persecution but a blessing."