The following are some of the dictionary definitions of the word "will": "wish or desire; ... purpose; determination; ... the choice or determination of one who has authority." The questions arise at one time or another: What is God's will? What is His will for His children? What is God's infinite purpose? What does He desire for His creation?
The prayer, "Thy will be done," has sometimes been associated with evil. Storm, earthquake, fire, have all been wrongly attributed to God's will. Some of the greatest crimes, including war, have been committed in the belief that they were in accordance with God's will. In Christian Science we gain a demonstrable understanding of the true nature of God; therefore we know that these destructive agencies are not of God.
We know God's will in proportion as we know God. It is self-evident that the eternal First Cause must be good, for anything which includes an element of evil is self-destructive, therefore temporal. There can, therefore, be only one eternal will of God, which, expressing God, must be everlastingly good. Mrs. Eddy tells us in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 4) that "Mind-power is good will towards men."
