Article October 18, 1993 Issue

God-given dominion overcomes emotionalism

Peace and joy are natural to us as God's offspring.

Edna Mary Watson

Emotionalism is often a robber. It would rob us of true peace and joy. Yet we don't have to be victimized. Christ Jesus told his disciples, "Ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you" (John 16:22). In all of Jesus' healing works he showed man's real, Godlike nature to be intact, unrobbed by sicknesses and sins. He brought to light the original purity and perfection of those he healed through the power of Christ, Truth.

We too can be touched by the power of the healing Christ, and find the God-given peace that's native to us. The way to this freedom is purely spiritual; it doesn't include willpower. It involves awakening to our genuine selfhood in God's likeness. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians that the "old man"— old, limiting, materialistic ways of thinking—needs to be put off. This opens the way for the "new man"—the unlimited, real view of ourselves and the progressive living of this pure nature—to be put on (see Eph. 4:22–24). Often such progress is forwarded in our moments of prayer, as we become willing to open our thought to man's true, spiritual selfhood.

In Jesus' healing of the young daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, the account in Luke indicates that he put out the emotional elements of thought surrounding the girl—the weeping and lamenting—before he restored her (see Luke 8:41–56). It seems clear that he recognized the need to overcome the emotional atmosphere, and he proved that it had no power to interfere with the girl's status as a child of God. In spite of the dire appearances to all those around, Jesus knew that the kingdom of heaven was always at hand and within everyone.

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