How many times must one resist the temptation to act with less than his highest sense of right? How many times must one reject evil's claims to reality, influence, or attractiveness? How many times must one say no to the devil?
As many times as it takes to stand with God.
This is the answer I came to after mentally reviewing an unpleasant circumstance for the fiftieth or sixtieth time. I knew that nothing good was accomplished by rehashing, but the memory kept recurring. After several miserable days I resolved to meet these rehearsals with a firm no! I began saying yes to the truth that no circumstance is outside God's loving control. I said yes to hope, no to desperation; yes to unselfish care, no to useless criticism; yes to humility, no to egotism. Aligning my thought with God in this way, I overcame the temptation to ruminate over the unhappy event. In two days a healing solution emerged that completely reversed the situation.
This experience identified for me one of evil's supposed characteristics—redundancy, or purposeless repetition. Evil would have us review and repeat it over and over. Evil would have us regularly reaffirm that life is confined to matter, that good is only for a few, and that fear and disease are inescapable realities. When we cooperate with evil, as I had been doing, evil may seem quite real and formidable to us. But through a spiritually based refusal to restate and relive evil's claims, one invariably discovers that evil is neither real nor formidable.
Of course, not all thoughts that recur are necessarily evil. There are occasions when a God-inspired idea continues to knock at the door of human consciousness until admission is gained.
How, then, can one distinguish between a spurious evil suggestion and an insistent God-given idea? We must begin by turning wholeheartedly to God for the spiritual vision needed to recognize what is true and what only appears to be true. As we practice listening to God for practical definitions of what is true, the counterfeit stands out in bolder contrast.
For example, consider the inexperienced gardener who plants vegetable seeds. As the seedlings begin to appear, so do an assortment of weeds. Some are obviously weeds, but others, to the novice's eye, look exactly like the vegetable seedlings. To remedy this he learns how the desired seedlings look and pulls out everything else. Soon he is seldom fooled.
Similarly, one becomes acquainted with what's spiritually authentic through diligent study of the Bible and of Mrs. Eddy's writings and through daily practice at distinguishing the rootless, repetitive urgings of evil from the steady, life-giving guidance of God.
With continued application, one recognizes that evil really has no capacity to confuse us, because God is far too loving and intelligent to assign authority, identity, or reality to evil. The truth that evil has no right even to suggest itself begins to be more persuasive.
We do well to ask regularly: "How is God guiding me at this moment?" It's encouraging to remember that God's thoughts are intelligible, since He is ever-communicative Mind; that His thoughts are factual, since He is pure Truth; and that they are always for our benefit, since He is Love. What God is imparting should become more important to us each day. After discerning God's message, we must faithfully obey it and live in accord with it.
As God's loved creation, we are His effect. He has made us intelligent, not dense; faithful, not willful; and steadfast, not vulnerable. God's creation, man, is the very expression of His goodness. Never duped or confused, man is exactly what God says he is—harmonious image.
In the Bible we have a genuine record of God's communication with humanity. The Scriptures include accounts of individuals who stood resolute with God-inspired directives, as well as examples of what happened when they fell prey to evil's aggressions.
Nehemiah, for one, was busy pursuing his God-inspired mission of rebuilding Jerusalem when he received a message from the leaders of the neighboring communities requesting that he attend a meeting to discuss the building project. Nehemiah refused to go. He recognized that the leaders' motives and intentions were deceptive and potentially destructive. The rulers sent him a second message, a third, a fourth, and a fifth, but each time Nehemiah said no to the purposeless meeting and yes to progressive activity. In effect he said no to the distracting invitations of evil and yes to the constructive work of God. Nehemiah's persistence led to the successful rebuilding of Jerusalem.
Pontius Pilate, on the other hand, pressed by evil's repeated urgings, buckled under. A careful study of Luke 23 shows that Pilate decided at least three times not to crucify Christ Jesus. Apparently Pilate did not easily capitulate to hatred and injustice. But as the murderous suggestion came again and again, louder and louder, Pilate gave in. The repetitions of evil shattered his grasp on justice.
The comparison between Nehemiah and Pilate shows that one's hold on good must be firm, not tentative. No matter how evil nags, one can cling tenaciously to the fact that God authors only harmony. One can realize that if the claim of evil is wrong the first time it appears, it is also wrong the second, third, or tenth time it appears. As Mrs. Eddy points out: "Resisting evil, you overcome it and prove its nothingness."Science and Health, p. 446.
In Christian Science persistent resistance is our approach to evil. We must never put up with or "negotiate" with sin and sickness. Whether evil comes as a haunting memory, a recurring illness, or a long-accepted character deficiency, one can gain freedom by responding with an inspired no to the evil, no matter how many times this takes.
Standing faithfully with the truth that God and His creation cannot be separated, one finds evil's claims carrying far less believability. Direct rejection of evil becomes easier and more confident. Thinking becomes so God-centered that evil is progressively silenced.
Can evil be altogether silenced? In the Revelator's vision, an evil dragon makes repeated attempts to conquer man, the innocent idea of God. "The dragon is at last stung to death by his own malice; but how many periods of torture it may take to remove all sin, must depend upon sin's obduracy,"Ibid., p. 569. Mrs. Eddy explains. (One dictionary defines "obdurate" as "hardened against good or moral influence; stubbornly impenitent.")
The battle is won only as we realize that the dragon and its claims are impotent illusion, defeated by God's love. Our part is to live with vigilant attention to God's thoughts, because His Christ message, heeded, wipes whatever evil would say from our lives. The battle does not end in a truce or armistice, but in total victory. As John reports, "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world."Rev. 12:9.
Our battle against evil can be waged with great joy and confidence, because with God our victory is assured. Indeed, some of our victories will come instantaneously. Others may require unflinching persistence. In either case, we can march forward toward the summit of John's vision, where all evil is destroyed.
