I love the promise I find in the Bible that everything works together for good.
It doesn’t always seem like events are working together for good.
At times, it may look the opposite. If struggling with illness, lacking money to pay the bills, or in conflict with another person, life may feel painful, impoverished or discordant. But even behind the worst of human experiences, a valuable moral or spiritual lesson is being taught that triumphs in the end. A good purpose is still being worked out.
The ultimate good God works out in the human experience is to teach the human mind to release all its faith in matter and evil and put all faith in Spirit, eternal Life. This is the path Jesus Christ has marked out before us. And we all must walk it. There are no short cuts or ways to skip the footsteps needed to be taken to successfully finish the course.
Unfortunately, though, the human mind often rebels at growing spiritually. It clings to its limited view of life in matter, it believes in evil, holds evil beliefs tight, engages in immoral and sinful attitudes, and tries to be a god unto itself. And this causes suffering. It’s a painful mental and physical place to be. And it must be outgrown! Divine law demands it.
So, when things are not going right for me, it helps me to remember that there is an event going on much bigger in my life than the immediate problem I’m facing. There is a significant moral or spiritual lesson I’m learning that will enable me to triumph over the suffering. And I search for that lesson. Once learned, the suffering will vanish, I know from experience.
If there is a misunderstanding between my wife and me, I know the deeper lesson is to love more.
If I get sick, I know the deeper lesson is to understand my spiritual individuality better that never gets sick.
If I worry about the future, I know the deeper lesson is to trust the omnipresence of God’s good now, which will also be present “in the future!”
If afraid of death, I know the deeper lesson is to understand eternal Life better in which there is no death.
Whatever the evil is, it’s a lie. As Jesus taught, the devil is a liar…there is no truth in him (John 8:44).
So, everything in your life is working together for good. The human mind may label the experience, at first, as evil, but your spiritual sense is handy to kick in and lead you to powerful moral and spiritual lessons that enable you to triumph over that evil and prove it unreal.
Always look for the good! Seek diligently for the good.
Once you find the good that is striving to surface and make a more tangible appearance in your life, what you thought was horrible and evil will lose its grip, fade, and disappear.
God is working His purpose out, and it’s all good for you!
Yes ofcourse everything works together for good. But at that particular moment when sorrow hits you, you feel so miserable and down in the dumps. How does one come out immediately? Cause it takes time for certain challenges to heal. Especially when you lose a loved one, we can not say at that moment that “everything works together for good.” The grief overwhelms you. In such situations if we apply the Truths we learn in Christian Science, can we raise the dead? Or does it require a higher understanding to raise the dead?
Evan I love your messages and my husband Bob King read these too. How timely to see this post this morning. You see my husband, Bob, passed Saturday evening at home. We are both very spiritual, but I am having a very difficult time understanding. We would have been married 14 years come January 6, 2015. I was 48 when I married, and very soon grateful that God had sent the perfect husband for me. We had an amazing marriage; I became a Christian Scientist by watching him live his faith and being a part of his demonstrations. However the loss and empty I feel are overwhelming right now. I guess my view of any “good” is hard to find and understand. I recently read, not sure if in your blog or not, that death is for the living…for the departed are already moving on with their life.
Nancy,
Yes, I had a blog a couple of weeks ago about death being only the experience of the on-looker, not the one who has moved on. They are alive and well, progressing and advancing with no interruption. So grief is more from our belief of loss than the actual parting of our loved one. But the “good” to be gained is a greater understanding that death is like a blink of the eye. It seems to happen to the human mind, but it is as not. Life goes on. You have not lost your loved one. You still have him in the same Love he’s always reflected to you. You should be able to feel his presence with you more than ever if you are seeing him from a spiritual point of view. There is no separation in true Love. Love is forever, and so is its blessings. Someday you will walk up to him, give him a big hug, catch up on the news, and walk on like nothing ever happened in between. Life is eternal. It never ends, and neither do its blessings. Love is forever!
How beautiful and comforting. Thank you so much. You really understood my need.
Nargis,
Even in the face of losing a loved one, something good is happening. One learns that death is not real, that the loved one is still alive and that there is no separation in divine Love. Time is very short term. Eternity is forever! So when suffering, look way past the immediate picture of temporal loss and search for the eternal gain. That will bring you out of it, and it can happen quickly!
One day the proverbial ton of bricks sent me a message. It reversed the depressing oh-this-will-take-forever-why-can’t-I-heal-it-right-now thought and said to me, don’t-be-sad-you-have-all-of-eternity-to-work-out-your-salvation! All of eternity. No deadline. No pressure. No hurry. One day at a time and before you know it the good is evident and the sorrow past.
Thanks Evan. Very helpful reminder to look above and beyond. I understand what the two previous responders mean. I lost my wife recently and it was devastating. BUT, it has caused me to dig even deeper, to work more diligently to see, hear and feel God’s presence here and now and to understand that each of us grows beyond this dream. T’aint easy but we can do it.
Hi Pat, Nargis and Nancy, Do you have access to the Daily Lift? Listen to the one for today by Ron Manglesdorf. It is very good! It gives good direction and a right activity to cling to and strive for. Thanks!
Surely Evan, you can offer more than that for one of the human experiences most difficult situations….
Hi Al,
I certainly can! But my blog posts are not meant to be full blown deep metaphysical articles. They are just little glimpses and glimmers into Truth I offer that I can type out rather quickly and share with my friends and readers as they come. I would encourage you to please just look for the good rather than search for shortcomings. Shortcomings are always easy to find for the mind bent on finding them. My prayer is to simply offer some good without getting fixated with being “perfect” every time I write and share.
Lots of love,
Thank you for the additional help for those searching..I appreciate that you took the time for the additional words of encouragement..These folks read the blog”Religiously”..sorry..I meant no disrespect..your additional comments meant a great deal to them I am sure..Thank you again
This was powerfully strong, loving, and so wonderfully true. Thank you, Evan. I love the simplicity and beauty of this.
I have just recently found your website Evan. I love it! So inspiring. Good job!
So many thoughts and Love flows through me for the commenter’s who have recently had loved ones pass on. Nobody is lost. God holds us ALL in His arms of Love, and we can be no place else.
Evan, thank you for this inspiring message. It really helped me. To me, Life has no opposite. The opposite of death is birth. When we get a glimmer of what is true about our spiritual identity, we begin to understand there is no birth or death in the eternal realm of the real. There is only Life. To be aware of that Truth is to be conscious. To be aware of only the material is to unconscious. We get to choose our altitude for the seeming human journey. At lower altitudes, the ride can be pretty bumpy, human emotions, drama, soap opera, but when we gain elevation, we get beyond the turbulence and the view is beautiful.
Thank you Evan. This lesson is the most difficult to understand and accept when on is in the midst of some turmoil. But it’s Truth is undeniable and the end result, as you have so eloquently put forth, leads us to a higher understanding of ourselves in God’s Kingdom.
Not only do I value Evan’s “SpiritView” blog and its uplifting messages, but I feel it provides a family of loving responders whose spiritual contributions help us all. For those dear ones struggling with the loss of a loved one, may I tenderly say (based on experience), be SO grateful for the years of blessed companionship you’ve experienced, and be ready to go out and share that love with the world. There is a Bible verse that reads: “The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” That verse healed me of grief at the accidental passing of our young child and carried me through when my husband left home for someone else. Its continued to carry me through decades of singleness knowing that my Father/Mother/God is indeed my husband as well. Love to all.
How touching and lovely a sentiment. I came to CS only a few years ago because of the amazing demonstrations of my husband, Bob King. I love how CS wraps us in Truth, Love, and Good. Thank you, Evan, for your blog, and others for contributing healing messages.
Why cry or morn after the so-called dead? Why attend funerals and give death a respect that it doesn’t deserve? Death really means finish. Is Life finished when reflecting God who is never finished? How about this then. The individuals job is done, God needs this individual some place else to express his foreverness. So the individual was called to express God in another place. To give Death a reality then is a sin against God. I got over loss of all my loved ones by knowing these truths in less than a day. I didn’t stop living thou others may think me heartless.
For every time I play into Death’s hands, I further the false need of my compatriots to go through death’s sting and that’s not doing any one any good.
I recently came across a C.S. article written some time ago. I, too, lost a much beloved husband of many years. The following has helped me immeasurably.
“Death is the experience of the on-looker, never of the person said to be dead.”
This sent my thought in a totally different direction. Hope this helps!
wow this is the 1st time the responders have helped me more than Evan! but thank you to Evan for bringing it up………..
I’ve been inspired, encouraged and blessed by this blog for many years. This is at the top of my list of favorites and immediately lifted my thought. For those challenged by grief, two articles that I have found helpful are (1) The Power of Good Never Dies in the 11/4/02 Christian Science Sentinel and (2) What Death Can Never Take Away in the 10/27/03 Sentinel. Both are by Richard Bergenheim.
Sometimes the difficulty for me is when I try to take mortal mind along with me and I do not know it. I have to ask myself: who is reading this? who is trying to understand? When I am from the wrong perspective, mortal mind, it seems so hard. Understandable.!!!When I sit and just open my consciousness it can wash over me and be easy. the discipline for me is to begin with who I really am, not my little i. I love the word recognizable. to re cognize. to know again. that is what this seems like to me
Thanks to Evan for this blog posting, to everyone for their comments, and to Evan for his responses. Very insightful and helpful! I love you all so much! The followers of SpiritView are a special bunch, eh?
“Where God is we can meet, and where God is we can never part.” -Mary Baker Eddy
(Miscellany. 131:20-21)
I am truly grateful for all the lessons and comments today. I’m happy that I can reread them all. My November has been a difficult month but I know that God is in the driver’s seat . I am not alone and God’s Grace is ever present. I’ve had to still the noisy thoughts that were screaming all sorts of nonsense and cling to Divine Love meeting every need.
My dog’s death last year was very difficult for me. I miss him every day. I know he is ok because he did tell me so. After a lengthy talk with him one night last year, I was awakened by a loud BARK. I still talk to him everyday. I have his pictures all around me. I know however he is just fine. Now I just need to find someone to shine all my love around here at home.
Thank you Evan, and all people who have contributed to today’s blog.
We are all moving on together in our quest to understand the spiritual concept of Life.
This is so great, truly appreciated. Thank you so much for your inspiration and sharing.
Thanks Evan. Just what I needed today.
What a wonderful message…it reminds me of an older timeless lecture…Wonderful Things Are Happening…
http://www.christianscience.org/index.php/miscellaneous-books/161-wonderful-things-are-happening
Great words Evan and thanks!
This message is made even more powerful by all the thoughtful comments and Evan’s answers.
Brian, you said it so well. This fellowship is so supporting to know how many seekers there are, are sincerely working ‘it’ out. Thanks and love to all.
Thank you, Evan for this important message, and all responders for your your comforting, uplifting, and questing comments – especially Dorothy, for that wonderful quote from Mrs. Eddy, and Don, for the lecture link. The Spiritview followers are indeed, as Brian said, a special bunch!