The benefits of no faith in evil

Interestingly, some of the best snapshots of God that lead to profound revelation of truth later on happen for me while deeply engrossed in a tennis match.


Last weekend, a good friend of mine and I partnered for a doubles tournament. To gain experience, we signed up to play at a level higher than our demonstrated ability.


During our first match, it was obvious that we were out of our division. Our opponents were far better than we were. But we played on in good spirits and with a zest to learn.


Part way through the match, mortal mind hollered across my thinking, “Boy this is going to be messy. These guys are good!”


The suggestion of a bad outcome wanted to demoralize my attitude, but I immediately caught it and retorted, “How could there be an evil outcome if I had no faith in evil?”


I did not understand the thought when it came. It was too big to get my mental arms around while concentrating on serves and volleys and preparing for the next point. But it stuck, and stuck…


I wrestled with it for two days.


What did it mean?


During the match, my partner and I had no illusions about winning. We knew what we were up against before we stepped on court. We were there to learn, not to score the highest.
 But, the temptation to measure success according to a score often gets players depressed if they don’t get the highest score.


The world seems to be divided into good and evil experiences. Like classic Disney movies, good versus evil, the darkest against the purest and everyone is on one side or the other. This sentiment spills right on down into the sports arena. You’re either on the winning side or the losing side; a good outcome or a bad outcome, one or the other.


As I fought to see differently, God’s message began to clarify.


I protested against everything in life coming down to standing on either a winning or losing side. It doesn’t have to be that way. Everyone can stand on the winning side if they are motivated spiritually and working for a spiritual purpose.


In competitive tennis, you win some matches, and you lose some matches. There is always someone better than you that you eventually play. But if you measure progress solely in terms of your own personal improvement and you continue to advance with every match, regardless of the score you are never a loser. You’re always a winner. Life is not good versus evil. It’s all good.


Aw, I began to see, for the mindset that believes the world is filled with evil they are going to find evidence of it wherever they look. It’s like paranoia finding reasons to fear when there are no reasons to fear. Faith in evil finds evil to fear and dread where there is no evil to fear and dread.


I got it!


That simple little message on the tennis court was an angel directive revealing to me the benefit of holding to a consciousness of God’s omnipresent goodness. When we are clear that God is all and God is good, we find good and feel good where another mindset that believes in evil finds evil.


To further explain, before the tennis match began, I was clear that winning was all about making progress, and had nothing to do with a final score. When the suggestion came in the heat of the match to get depressed and discouraged, (in other words, think evilly), because the competition was far superior, I quickly rejected it. There was not going to be an evil outcome. There was only going to be a good outcome, measured in spiritual, not material terms. And that was the case. We lost 3-6, 1-6, but were very happy with our performance.


Whew…maybe a bit of rambling here, but the overall message is, have no faith in evil, ever. Lose it in all walks of life.


It will take countless demonstrations for each of us to fully realize the unreality of evil, but every bit of progress toward accepting the allness of God’s goodness will get us closer to winning the final prize.


When we have faith in good, that’s what we see and experience—good! Whether we’re on a tennis court, in conference with a customer, in the marketplace with competitors, at home with a spouse, in the classroom with students, or driving through rush hour, when our perspective is informed by the omnipresence of God’s goodness, that’s exactly what we’re going to find and feel more of. The omnipresence of God’s goodness!