Positive Peace

WE all want to experience good. But how to attain it can seem a mystery. The Bible tells us, ``Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.''1 This instruction, telling us to start with God, helps clear up the mystery. Its practical wisdom explains how we can find good. When we have the peace that comes from knowing God, we feel better, our human affairs work out better, the promise that we can find solutions to the world's problems looks more realistic. But to experience the goodness we desire, we have to be at peace positively, actively, not just thinking or talking about it.

True peace is spiritual. It is a quality of God. It embodies the power of God. When we are at peace spiritually, we are embodying the power of God. Christ Jesus demonstrated the power of God better than anyone else. He calmed storms. He brought peace to people and healed them. We can follow his example to the extent that we understand his message. We can calm ourselves and others and heal spiritually in the way Jesus taught -- through the power of God.

The important thing is to know it is God who heals. It is God's peace that calms our fears. It is God's love that clears away our resentments. Our part is to reflect God -- in other words, to be His image and likeness -- and we have to strive to do that quite actively.

When they're discouraged, people sometimes have a tendency to focus on what amounts to a denial of their spiritual capacities. We may hear, or say ourselves, ``I must not say the wrong thing'' or ``I must not do the wrong thing'' or ``I am trying hard not to be impatient'' -- or ill-tempered or unkind. While all the time, Christianity is telling us that we are capable of doing good, being patient, good-tempered, kind. The emphasis of Christianity is on positive being -- being God-like in an affirmative way.

Jesus related a parable about a farmer who planted wheat in a field.2 When the grain was growing, his servants told the farmer that weeds similar in appearance to wheat were also growing. They wanted to pull up the weeds, but the farmer restrained them. He told them to wait until the time of harvest, then to separate the weeds from the wheat, destroy the weeds, and gather the wheat into the barn.

The weeds had to be destroyed, as the farmer knew. But destroying the weeds was incidental to his main purpose. His main purpose was growing wheat. The servants' weed-pulling could have resulted in a loss of wheat.

Jesus' teaching and healing works focus thought on living in active obedience to God, divine Truth. They demonstrate that God, divine Spirit, is the sole creator, that God made man in His own likeness, and that the universe -- the only true universe, including man -- is wholly spiritual. Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered and founded Christian Science, writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, ``Spirit is positive.''3

She also tells us to demonstrate the positive nature of Spirit, or Truth. She says: ``Look away from the body into Truth and Love, the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and immortality. Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts.''4

This kind of thinking is truly spiritual. It is truly Godlike, and it brings God's healing goodness and loving care into our human affairs.

1Job 22:21. 2See Matthew 13:24-30. 3Science and Health, p. 173. 4Ibid., p. 261.