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Spiritual light on economic woes
Whether we live in the United States, in Europe, or some other part of the world, economic conditions, especially in nations with large amounts of debt, seem intractable. Economic analysts make many dire predictions for the future. One day as I was praying about this issue, I had a flash of insight: Prophecies of doom and gloom have to be false because they dishonor the goodness of God. When this thought first struck me, it was the word dishonor that really stood out.
God’s goodness is always with us, and we dishonor God when we doubt His care. The prophet Isaiah declared, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear” (Isaiah 59:1). It’s only when we turn away from God and ignore His omnipotence that problems seem too big. As we prayerfully listen for God’s direction and follow it, we find the answers we need. And we are also honoring God.
These were helpful thoughts, but how could I pray for healing of something like the deficit? The next idea was that a harmful deficit has no more claim to persist than a disease has to exist. As a Christian Scientist, I’ve seen disease healed many times through prayer. Mary Baker Eddy states in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “The procuring cause and foundation of all sickness is fear, ignorance, or sin. Disease is always induced by a false sense mentally entertained, not destroyed. Disease is an image of thought externalized. The mental state is called a material state. Whatever is cherished in mortal mind as the physical condition is imaged forth on the body” (p. 411).
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About the author
Martha C. Sarvis is a Christian Science practitioner who lives in Boerne, Texas.
