Editorial December 14, 1987 Issue

We have reason for strong hope

Michael D. Rissler

The conviction that we are not meant to live in ignorance and mystery is one way to gauge the infinitude of God's love and presence. One of the key points of Christ Jesus' teachings is his declaration "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." ^{John 10:10.} Such life includes understanding God's purpose in creation and our place in that purpose.

God's grace was shown in Christ Jesus' healing of sickness and in his assurance that evil is not from God or part of His plan for man. It is significant that Jesus did not teach that his relationship to God as His child was exclusive to him. The lasting impression of the parable of the prodigal son is the idea that we can't be cut off from our Father.^{See Luke 15:11-24 .}

The spiritual truth of our sure relationship to God gives us the feeling that even if we think we're cut off, we can always return to His constancy and love. This is one of the elements in the teachings of Christian Science that early stirs people's interest in it. We want to know God, to feel the confidence that comes from not living in doubt. It is a normal desire. And the first conception of God that we may have often comes in the form of His being an understanding Parent who no more would abandon us than the prodigal's father would sell the farm and be gone when the son returns home.

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