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Keep A True Lent
Chapter 14
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[Keep A True Lent]
[Charles Fillmore's Works] [Unity on the Web Home Page]
God's Abundance
TIMES OF DEPRESSION bring out the fact that in days of
prosperity man either forgot the prayers and struggles that
brought him to success and apparent safety, or else he
failed to build his fortune on a firm financial foundation.
If he had thought more about the source of life and
substance, he would have escaped the needless grind of the
poverty he has endured right here in the midst of abundance.
There is both a primary and a secondary law of increase.
Men pile up possessions by human effort, interest, and
other ways of secondary increase, and grow into the thought
that these are the real means of attaining prosperity. But
possessions gained in this way rest on a very insecure
foundation and are often swept away in a day. Then men are
in despair and often think that their means of existence is
gone forever and life is not worth living. Such persons are
really never happy in their wealth, because there is always
a lurking fear that they may lose it. They are secretly
troubled with the thought of lack, in the presence of
worldly plenty.
We cannot help but think that a wise and provident Creator
must have planned more permanent possessions for His
offspring. In Truth, He has so planned. Access to this
permanent source of all man's
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good lies in his power to possess and mold in thought the
omnipresent substance of Spirit.
Apparently we live in two worlds: an invisible world of
thoughts, and a visible world of things. The invisible
world of thought substance is the real world, because it is
the source of the world of things, and man stands between
the two, handing out with his thoughts the unlimited
substance of Spirit. When man gets understanding of the
right relation between the visible and the invisible into
his mind and active in his thought, all his needs will be
met. That is what Jesus meant when He said, "Seek ye first
his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things
shall be added unto you."
But the invisible thought substance provided for man is
very sensitive to man's thought about it; that is, about
the things that originally came from it and that man claims
as his possessions. If man hoards the things that he seems
to possess, he clogs the spiritual channel from which they
originally flowed and so receives sparingly from that
source.
Watch your thoughts when you are handling your money,
because your money is attached through your mind to the one
source of all substance and all money. When you think of
your money, which is visible, as something directly
attached to an invisible source that is giving or
withholding according to your thought, you have the key to
all riches and the reason for all lack.
Paul had a consciousness of this law of thought
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in finances when he wrote to the Corinthians, "He that
soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he that
soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully."
This law of the mind affecting resources applies especially
to those who are responsible for the temporal needs of the
family, because they are seriously interested and put
actual thought substance into the monetary income and
outgo. Children and those who have not labored to gain
money put very little thought substance into it or its
spiritual idea. But the heads of families need thought
discipline in raising the prosperity consciousness, because
the law is no respecter of persons and millions of good
people, the very salt of the earth, are in want the world
over because they do not know this law of sowing and
reaping in thought. The financial field is a large one, and
we are all sowing and reaping in it every day. The
financial genius deals in large transactions because he has
large ideas of supply.
God, being the giver of inexhaustible ideas of plenty,
loves those who abandon themselves to a cheerful state of
mind so that He may pour more abundance into their
thoughts. Then Paul says, "God is able to make all grace
abound unto you; that ye, having always all sufficiency in
everything, may abound unto every good work."
The thought behind a gift is the real measure of its value
and efficiency. Jesus illustrated this when He called the
attention of His disciples to the poor
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widow who cast two mites into the treasury, which was large
in her estimation because it represented all her living. It
is what we think about our gift that gives it spiritual
value and not the stamp on the coin. This is illustrated by
the story about the careless Scot who tossed a crown,
thinking it a penny, into the collection plate, and when he
saw his mistake asked to have it back. The deacon refused,
and the Scot grunted, "Aweel, aweel, I'll get credit for it
in heaven." "Na, na," responded the deacon, "ye'll get
credit for the penny."
It is easy to forget that God is the source of our supply,
so we have our days of thanksgiving and our grace at table,
besides the discipline of acknowledging the supreme Giver
of all good whenever we receive or pay out money. The
practice of tithing is undoubtedly the most expansive
practice in this respect, and thousands of successful
businessmen use it to their continuous financial and
spiritual profit.
Jacob began tithing very early in his successful career.
"Of all that thou shalt give me," he vowed to Jehovah, "I
will surely give the tenth unto thee." Tithing for the
support of his religion was incumbent on every Israelite,
and of all the races of the earth none other has equaled
the Israelites in financial ability.
Metaphysical insight reveals why the Jews have always been
noted for their prosperity. By the act of tithing, men make
God their partner in their financial
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transactions and thus keep the channel open from the source
in the ideal to the manifestation in the realm of things.
Whoever thinks that he is helping to keep God's work going
in the earth cannot help but believe that God will help
him. This virtually makes God not only a silent partner but
also active in producing capital from unseen and unknown
sources, in opening up avenues for commercial gain, and in
various other ways making the individual prosperous.
That the law works for those who persist in its application
is beyond question. But nearly all who practice tithing
confess that in certain stages of their prosperity they
fall into the error set forth in Deuteronomy: "Beware lest
thou forget Jehovah . . . when . . . thy silver and thy
gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;
then thy heart be lifted up, and thou forget Jehovah thy
God . . . lest thou say in thy heart, My power and the
might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt
remember Jehovah thy God, for it is he that giveth thee
power to get wealth."
We give money a dignity that does not belong to it. Money
and those who possess money are looked on as wielding a
certain power, and we give them deference that in no wise
belongs to them. The foundation of this is fear; we fear
the power of those who use money to their own ends.
Various plans have been proposed to rob money of its
power--or the power that men have given it--
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the idea being that money is responsible for the abuses
that have grown up through its use. But the destruction of
money will not cure the evils that have come into being in
the name of money. It is not money, but the love of money,
that is the root of all evil. What men need to know is that
money represents a mind substance of unlimited abundance
and accessibility; that this mind substance cannot safely
be hoarded or selfishly used by anyone; that it is a living
magnet attracting good of every kind to those who possess
it; that those who train their thoughts to depend on this
mind substance for supply of all kinds never lack. When
there is a need, they simply sing and pray and praise and
give thanks that their need is bountifully supplied. If the
mind is free from attachment to money or love of it, and
lovingly concentrated on the divine substance, there is
never failure in the demonstration.
"Because thou servedst not Jehovah thy God with joyfulness,
and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of
all things; therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies that
Jehovah shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst,
and in nakedness, and in want of all things."
This was the admonition of Moses to the Children of Israel,
and it holds good to this day. Making a living is a species
of slavery to most persons. To them God is a slave driver,
and they are continually under the lash of their own
thoughts of how hard it is to make a living. Life to them
is just one task after
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another without any hope of finding rest and peace.
This certainly is not the destiny planned by an
all-powerful and all-loving Father for His children. When
we groan and sweat under the stress and strain of life, we
are serving Satan instead of God. The satanic consciousness
would make us believe that there is a limited amount of the
things necessary to life and that we must labor hard to get
our share. It is true that such conditions do come upon
those who have turned their faces from God. "In the sweat
of thy face shalt thou eat bread."
However, those who follow Jesus in the worship of the
loving Father escape the effects of the curse of the
serpent and are restored to the liberty of the sons of God.
All work becomes divine for man when he affirms that he is
working for God and that God is a generous paymaster. Then
joy and gladness of heart will automatically spring up in
the soul "by reason of the abundance of all things." This
means that when we praise God and give thanks for His
supply and support we open our mind to the inflow of the
abundant spiritual essence of all things.
Jesus said that before we can enter the kingdom of the
heavens we must become as little children. Most children
are bubbling over with happiness. They have not yet been
taught how to take life in the serious, solemn manner of
the average adult. They hop and they skip and they sing,
and their daily needs are met.
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We all look back on the joys and freedom of our childhood
and wish that they might have lasted always. And why not?
We have been taught that in mature life we have many hard
lessons to learn, that trials and tribulations are an
essential part of man's life, and that we must experience
them in order to develop our character; that is, our
consciousness. But Jesus said we must become as little
children before we can enter the kingdom of heaven and that
the kingdom is within us.
The little child has no consciousness of the tribulations
of life, and the logical conclusion is that when we unload
false states of mind and become childlike we shall begin to
realize what heaven is like.
"'For your Father knows your necessities before you ask
Him. Consequently, ye must pray in this way:
"'Our Father in the Heavens; Your Name must be being
Hallowed;
"'Your Kingdom must be being restored.
"'Your Will must be being done both in Heaven and upon the
Earth.
"'Give us to-day our to-morrow's bread;
"'And forgive us our faults, as we forgive those offending
us, for You would not lead us into temptation, but deliver
us from its evil.'"
This translation of the Lord's Prayer is found in "The
Complete Bible in Modern English," by Ferrar Fenton.
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In a footnote to this translation Mr. Fenton says:
The above is the literal translation of the original Greek,
retaining the Greek moods and tenses by the clearest
English I could. The old versions, having been made from a
Latin translation, could not reproduce the actual sense of
the Saviour as given by the Evangelists, for Latin has no
Aorist of the imperative passive mood used by Matthew and
Luke.
The force of the imperative first Aorist seems to me to be
that of what is called a standing order, a thing to be done
absolutely, and continuously.
Ferrar Fenton says that the Aorist is a tense expressing
complete action in a single movement. So we see that
according to the preface of the Lord's Prayer as originally
given by Jesus, He wants us not to pray for something to be
done in the future. Instead, since God has already provided
the things we need before we ask Him, our prayers should be
in the nature of a command implying our recognition of the
fact that they are now appearing in our world. As Fenton
says, the prayer is of the nature of a standing order, "a
thing to be done absolutely, and continuously."
So we see that we are not to beg God to provide for us,
implying that He has been like an improvident parent whom
we have to remind of His remissness. God has provided
absolutely and continuously for every need of man,
individually and collectively, and everything belongs to
us: "All things whatsoever the Father hath are mine," said
Jesus.
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[Keep A True Lent]
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