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.

Jesus proved that God’s man is unburdened by illness, disability, or even death.

Indeed, God provides constant supply that can’t be restricted or diminished; happiness that is not tentative or tarnished; success that can’t be compromised or reversed; and peace that isn’t superficial or fragile. Therefore, our happiness is secure in God’s great, inclusive love (see Psalms 144:15). And peace is permanently established by God within each of us. God’s mercy and grace are expressed in ways that meet our every need. As it says in the book of Psalms, “For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations” (100:5). 

I’ve learned to challenge the temptation to say, “How terrible!” with the thought, “How unreal! God, divine Love, is right there, actively directing, healing, redeeming, and comforting those who are involved.”

For example, when I read about gangs or individuals randomly and violently attacking others, I pray along these lines: “Thank you, God, for being the only Mind and creating all of these dear ones in Your own image—recognizing their own spiritual value, reflecting Your love, and expressing only God-impelled activity. Not one of them is left out of your encircling care and unfailing love.

“They are not bored, ignorant, immoral, amoral, vicious, or uncaring. The real identity of these individuals is forever satisfied, reflecting the dignity of their divine origin. Enable them to understand this, so they can help themselves and others. Help them to experience Your justice—the cleansing of every trace of evil and the revealing of their inherent purity and innocence. 

“Thank you for ensuring that Your children are never violated, injured, terrified, or lost. Your love sees them as You made them, and this love is at work lifting them up, nourishing, restoring, and comforting everyone. And that is the way it is right now: ‘Enable us to know,—as in heaven, so on earth,—God is omnipotent, supreme’ (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 17).” 

It was this kind of prayer that motivated me, when I was a high school guidance counselor, to step between two girls who were physically fighting and bring a sense of calm. I broke up the fight and brought them to my office. Through many meetings, the three of us developed an understanding and trust, even though the girls identified with two separate and opposing social groups. 

They would alert me when there was to be a fight in school or at a nearby park. They had decided that they didn’t want to be part of this type of gang activity anymore, and they wanted it stopped before more of their friends were hurt or arrested. One of the girls became involved in student government. As a student leader, she was a wonderful influence for good on the campus.

Even when it seems apparent, evil is never real.

Christly prayer is the most powerful way to defeat evil. It establishes the spiritual facts—what is really going on in the allness of God, good—and defeats any claim of evil’s power as either a creator or a destroyer. I love the way Mary Baker Eddy explains evil’s unreality in her great book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “Evil is a negation, because it is the absence of truth. It is nothing, because it is the absence of something. It is unreal, because it presupposes the absence of God, the omnipotent and omnipresent. Every mortal must learn that there is neither power nor reality in evil” (p. 186).

Even when it seems apparent, evil is never real. It never has the last word on anyone or any situation. It is always powerless and person-less because God, infinite Spirit, is the only creator and has made only what is good and real. That includes each one of us.

Isn’t it wonderful to know that we are all God’s sons and daughters—blameless, pure, and innocent—created in God’s likeness! What God has created can never injure or be injured; victimize or be victimized; destroy or be destroyed.

When evil confronts us in any form, let’s deny its apparent reality with Christlike authority. Instead of thinking or saying, “How terrible!” we can declare with spiritual conviction, “How unreal!”