"More blessed to give"

WILLIAM P. KEASBEY

MANY of us have read or heard the Scriptural statement, perhaps many times, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." We may have felt that it would be desirable to be able to understand and believe this saying. But so apparently universal is the greedy, grasping mortal belief of selfishness that the world hesitates to make this teaching practical.

One student of Christian Science had an experience which greatly helped him to understand that it is not only true, but demonstrable, that "it is more blessed to give than to receive." This student seemingly was suffering from a badly dislocated finger of his right hand. The accident took place on a Tuesday. The following evening he attended a testimony meeting in a Christian Science church. The finger by this time was quite swollen and discolored, and so stiff that it was difficult for him to use his hand.

During the time allotted to the giving of testimonies, the student felt strongly the urge to express his gratitude for a physical healing in Christian Science which he had experienced a short time before. Error argued: "Wait. Do not give the testimony until after you have solved the present problem. Then, when you testify, you will have two healings to mention, and those who hear your testimony will not be tempted to say. If Christian Science heals, as you say it does, how about that finger of yours?"

The student, however, refused to listen to the argument. In mathematics, the mere fact that there still remains before one an unsolved problem, does not cast a shadow on the enduring truths of the science of numbers or make one less grateful for the earlier demonstration of these truths, in the solving of other problems.

So the student joyfully gave the testimony, striving earnestly to make clear the truth which had brought about the healing. After the service, when shaking hands with friends in the foyer, he discovered that the finger was no longer stiff and swollen, but completely healed.

In giving his testimony, he had won an unlooked-for healing blessing for himself, and had proved the truth of Mrs. Eddy's statement in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 14): "Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual, — neither in nor of matter, — and the body will then utter no complaints. If suffering from a belief in sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well."

The principal reason why mortals are often fearful about giving is the mortal tendency to limit, in belief, all good. If they but knew and understood that "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above," that good is of God, and is as illimitable and inexhaustible as are the omnipotence and omnipresence of our Father-Mother God, the world would have many a "cheerful giver," whom the Bible tells us that "God loveth."

Today, those who are honestly striving for a better understanding spiritual can grasp and prove the truth of Jesus' admonition, "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over;" for, as Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, p. 79), "Giving does not impoverish us in the service of our Maker, neither does withholding enrich us."

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