Article August 30, 1941 Issue

Giving and Having

MARGARET HORN

Christ Jesus, who through his spiritual understanding of God was enabled to feed the multitude and pay the necessary tax for himself and his disciple, said: "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." Herein is indicated the spiritual meaning of giving and having.

Probably there is nothing more to be desired by the followers of the Master than the ability to give willingly, graciously, and unselfishly. In the light of Christian Science, this spiritual activity may be cultivated. Christian Science establishes the fact of the allness of God, good. Thus it is that the student, by understanding the allness of God, realizes that all good is necessarily included in this infinitude. Good, therefore, cannot be personally circumscribed, but belongs to all through reflection. Spiritual understanding destroys the fear of depletion or deprivation with which finite mortal sense would restrain the Godlike love of giving. God is indeed the great Giver of all good, and man is His reflection. Knowing this, one can never fail to exercise Christly giving and be blessed with its attendant joy and spiritual freedom.

We can study with profit Biblical accounts of giving which resulted not in loss but, on the contrary, in a greatly increased experience of supply. Take the instance, according to John's Gospel, of Jesus' feeding of the multitude when there were at hand only five barley loaves and two small fishes, which a boy had brought with him. Through Christ Jesus' ability and willingness to give, the world received an outstanding proof of the spiritual fact of ever-present supply. Five thousand men, besides women and children, were fed abundantly, and there remained twelve baskets of fragments. Certainly, no depletion was experienced through this willingness to give.

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