CHAPTER XI

Our Unlimited Capacity

CONTENTMENT is one of the richest jewels that a home can have, and when its

foundation is a knowledge of Truth it abides forever and becomes a powerful

magnet to draw to a person the best in people and in things.

When contentment is mated with poverty there is usually some false reasoning at

the root of the situation. Sometimes it is a yielding to circumstances as

inevitable, a kind of fatalism, but oftener the cause of it lies in the religious

training, especially the doctrine that Christianity and poverty are logical

associates and that the greatest of all Christians Himself was poor, having “not

where to lay his head.”

JESUS NOT POOR

We know now that we cannot call Jesus Christ poor, any more than we can think

of the King of England as being poor simply because he has no money in his

pocket. Jesus had command of forces that could have made Him a Croesus in a

moment, but He would not be cumbered with property.

If one chooses to go without, all right. But to be forced to go without and even to

be in debt is not a free state and there has not Jesus said, “Ye shall know the

truth, and the truth shall make you free”?

The old preaching from the pulpit that one cannot expect to be rich in this life

was often from a certain Bible text, which was a favorite quotation whenever

such views were expounded. It is found in Hebrews 13:5, and according to the

King James Version it reads:

"And be content with such things as ye have.” But according to a learned prelate of the Church of England, the translation should read:

“Be ye conscious that ye have contained within yourselves all capacity,” which version is more in keeping with the context:

“For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”

“Contentment,” “contain,” and “contents” are all of the same family of words. Our true “contentment” is our ability to “contain” all the blessings that the good

God shall pour out uponus.

THE WIDOW'S POT OF OIL

The story of Elisha’s increasing the widow’s pot of oil is illustrative of the point stated by Paul with reference to our capacity.

There was a widow who appealed to Elisha to

fore not true Christianity. For

save her two sons from being sold for debt, that is from becoming slaves in order to pay a debt. Elisha asked her what she had in the house, and she answered:

“Not anything. . . save a pot of oil,”

Then he told her to go and borrow all the vessels she could from her neighbors.

“Borrow not a few” was his instruction.

Then she was to pour oil from that little pot of oil until all the vessels were filled.

She procured all that she could, the oil increased until the last vessel was full,

and then “the oil stayed.”

“Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy sons of the rest.”

Here was an instance of a woman enriched by the law of God to the extent of her

receptive capacity, which was limited. Paul reminds us that our capacity is

unlimited and we must be conscious of it.

Let us therefore repeat that our capacity, our true

“contentment,” is our ability to contain all the blessings that the good God pours

out upon us.

Let us practice removing every limitation that we have been prone to put upon ourselves as to either receiving or disbursing. We do not need to depend on our neighbors for our increase. The Lord within us is our support; who shall limit us?

FIFTH MEDITATION

“MY CUP RUNNETH OVER”

In the matter of the temporal prosperity that results from worldly methods, it is

considered a good principle to gauge one’s spending by one’s income; and that is

good sense when one’s prosperity is on a material basis.

But the spiritual law is stated thus: “With what measure ye mete, it shall be

measured unto you.” “Give, and it shall be given unto you.” In other words, learn

to spend—not recklessly or in a meaningless way, but with the wisdom of one

who is being educated to disseminate riches like seed, thus breaking down fear

and sense of limitation and cultivating faith and consciousness of all-capacity in

himself.

To illustrate, a person may start out to buy a garment for twenty dollars, but he finds one just as suitable for twenty-five dollars. Under the old way of thinking the extra cost would rule out that garment even though the money might lie in

the purse.

If then because of trust in the divine bounty he does pay the extra amount, the

purchaser will not “lack” the five dollars, but on the contrary will enter into a

new current of receptivity and, if alert, will be able to see the unexpected

increase when it comes, in obedience to the great law.

When one intends to make a gift of money in a

certain amount and then mentally lessens it, he is lessening his own receiving

capacity. A homely illustration of this law is the good milch cow that keeps up her

capacity to receive as long as what she has to give is all taken from her; but if

her milker in a foolish moment should think to save her by not stripping her of

her milk, she would give him less the next time, even though he milked her dry.

Practice distributing freely because of trust in your unlimited source of supply.

Listen to me!

FIFTH TREATMENT

You have the capacity to receive all riches, and you

disburse them according to the leading of divine inspiration and wisdom.

It is nothing to you how mortals feel about the times.

You are not under the law of limitation.

The income and the outgo are perfectly balanced.

The more comes in the more you spend, and the more you spend the more comes

in.

You gauge your own capacity. No one can limit you.

You enlarge your horizon of expenditure.

‘Where others give pennies you give nickels; where others give nickels you give quarters; where others give quarters you give dollars.

The best is none too good for you. You are a prince in God’s kingdom. Our Father is rich, and His children are a credit to His bounty.

You find no fault. You make no complaint. You never whine. You blame no one.

You are not a beggar. You are not a dependent. You are cheery and free. You are

courageous.

You are a magnet to draw your own. No one loses who gives to you. Everybody gains by prospering you, and he knows it.

You live in the realm of love, where giving freely and receiving graciously is the

law.

Current belief about business cannot influence you; it cannot use you or bind you.

You do your best at all times. You give yourself to the divinity in all.

Your work calls forth rich appreciation, which takes as money and the things the

world values.

Make channels for your divine prosperity. Make channels for love to express itself through you. Love and eternal prosperity are one, and they are yours now.

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“Make channels for the streams of love Where they may broadly run;

And love has overflowing streams To fill them everyone.

‘For we must share if we would keep That blessing from above;

Ceasing to give, we cease to have— Such is the law of love.”