Editorial October 14, 1916 Issue

Giving and Receiving

William D. McCrackan

THE suggestion that an individual cannot afford to give virtually declares that he is not ready to receive. The seeming mortal law works both ways, and tends to prove itself by inversion: if we cannot receive, we cannot give; and if we cannot give, we cannot receive. Mankind may be said to have the choice between these two statements, and yet there is no real choice, because both lead to the same conclusion, namely, to lack, want, and poverty. The surest way of becoming poor is to stop giving, and metaphysically considered the reason is obvious. Refusing to give, mankind mentally insists that it has nothing to give, or at least not enough to give, thereby limiting itself and declaring for a separation between God, the infinite source of all, and man, His expressed image.

The habit of reiterating that we cannot afford to give springs from fear, and acts like a series of checks upon our activity, our intelligence, and our ability, ultimating in inaction, apathy, and loss alike of power and of substance. Looking forward to a time when we will not be asked to give as much as at present, is preparing for ourselves a time when we shall have nothing to give. The fact is, that the future holds in store constantly more giving, and not less, on the part of advancing Christian Scientists, for less giving would mean retrogression and so eventual destruction of the power to receive.

Jesus' commendation of the widow's mite was not due to the fact that the mite was so small, but that it was the widow's all. There is no special virtue in putting small change into the church collection instead of a larger amount. Jesus' advice to the twelve disciples, as he sent them forth to preach and to heal, included the exhortation, "Freely ye have received, freely give." At another time he said to them, "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom."

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