'To Bless All Mankind' June 8, 2015 Issue

Finding greater certainty

Stephen Carlson

Originally printed in The Christian Science Monitor, December 11, 2014.

The December 1 “Monitor’s View” on CSmonitor.com, “Spotting the inviolate in oil price volatility,” got me thinking not only about the uncertainty relating to oil price fluctuations—and how they affect people and nations—but about how to experience certainty in an unstable world. The editorial says that in the face of oil price changes, “once again, the Great Sorting is really between those who use uncertainty to create a better world and those who succumb to it like a game of chance.” For nations to respond to uncertainty with constructive action—such as the pursuit of new energy options—is progressive.

But how do you actually come to feel stability and experience it when fluctuation seems the norm? Christ Jesus said that those who heard and practiced his teachings were like “a wise man, which built his house upon a rock,” and neither floods nor winds could bring it down (see Matthew 7:24, 25).

It’s a key point as we look at the issues that tend to promote instability in the world and in individual lives. Jesus’ teachings bring out the importance of worshipping the one God—Spirit. They show that prayer and trust in God are essential. They highlight the living of such Godlike qualities as purity, meekness, and love. Daily practice of his instructions doesn’t mean that the worldwide winds of conflicting values will suddenly die down. But it does mean that we can more readily find a measure of certainty ourselves and at the same time benefit the world.

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