Article December 15, 2014 Issue

Destroying evil’s claim to reality

Margaret Foerster

Whenever we hear of a problem and exclaim, “How terrible! How awful!” we’re essentially marveling at its reality. When I take the bait and find myself admitting that something is terrible or tragic—and not getting beyond that sense of it—I’m hooked into believing in the appearance of evil, its presence and destructive ability. I’ve magnified evil rather than contributing to its elimination.

When Christ Jesus looked out into a sea of people—the lame, blind, sick, sinful, impoverished, crippled—I don’t think he said, “How awful!” Nor do we have a record of Jesus discussing with his disciples the symptoms or nature of various diseases or ailments. What we do have on record is Jesus challenging this kind of thinking with compassion and healing those individuals who came to him—restoring sight, hearing, mobility, and life (see Matthew 4:23).

How did Jesus heal? Certainly not by believing it was God’s will that these individuals suffer or be punished. That view would have prevented him from freeing them. Rather, he knew his Father so well that he recognized everyone everywhere as His children and saw them as God made them—spiritual, strong, whole, pure, and complete. With every healing Jesus proved that God’s man is unburdened by illness, disability, or even death. He taught that God’s will for His children is consistent and includes uninterrupted supply, happiness, success, and peace.

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