Article September 15, 1997 Issue

Let God's will be done

Barbara Juergens Fox

Have you ever considered the importance of that small word let? "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus," said the Apostle Paul (Phil. 2:5). A companion book to the Bible, Science and Health, uses let over ninety times, sometimes quoting Bible verses, often in imperative statements that emphasize letting go of ungodlike thinking in order to yield to God's control. Other similar citations use words such as drop, give up, put aside, forsake, rid ourselves, and relinquish.

It's not hard for most people to draw up a list of traits they would like to let go of. These might include discouragement, prejudice, false dependency, anxiety, criticism, irritation, self-will, pride. Every one of these traits stems from the suggestion that we are isolated beings, sometimes separated from good, sometimes depending on the wrong things. They are all offshoots of the false belief that there is life, substance, and intelligence in matter and that there are many minds. So this is the basic false belief that needs to be forsaken.

Why is this belief of a mind separate from God so deleterious to health and harmony? Because it denies the allness of God, good. By claiming that there can be something happening independently of God, we open the door to discord, despair, disease.

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