CHAPTER V

Freedom from Debt

Owe no man anything, save to love one another: for that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law....Love worketh no ill to his neighbor:love therefore is the

fulfillment of the law.

WHEREVER THERE is a sense of indebtedness there also is honor; and where

honor abides, wealth and power are near at hand, for in Spirit they are never

separated: "Both riches and honor come to thee, and thou rulest over all; and in

thy hand is power and might; and in thy hand is to make great, and to give

strength unto all." And so surely as a debtor gets understanding, by which he can

keep his trust as well as his honor, he will never be harassed by his creditors or

be brought to shame or want.

WISE CREDIT

It is a matter of wonderment to some people that they are trusted so implicitly by

their creditors. Yet the reason is simple. Men are continually reading each other's

thoughts, and when they have the determination to do right by their neighbor,

this state of mind is written upon their face and in their actions as well as radiated through their aura; and if the creditor will but trust his impressions his

debtors then become simply good investments.

LOVE FREES FROM DEBT

As Paul declared, the key to freedom from debt is love that seeks the good of the

neighbor first, last, and always. For with love goes that respect, that honor which

is a perpetual magnet for riches, even though they are passed along as rapidly as

received and no one may appear to be rich through accumulation. The truly rich

are those who have plenty to spend and who spend that plenty, not those who

have plenty to save and who save it. The miser is not rich. The prodigal is nearer

to prosperity, even in his ignorance, than the frugal person who never learns to

spend wisely.

Perfect love casts out fear as to one’s continuance in prosperity, and guides one

into the way where indebtedness is no burden but a convenient and harmonious

arrangement, where each is benefited and each is sure of the outcome.

But the debts that we made in folly and selfishness, that hang over us like a pall

and drag upon us from the past so that there seems no deliverance— what of

them? And what of those which, it may seem, can only be paid with a lifetime of

labor and yet for which no prospect of funds lies ahead of us?

FORGIVING OUR DEBTORS

“Though your sins may be as scarlet, they shall

be as white as snow.” Though your debts be “scarlet,” they shall all be canceled, for debts in business are like sins in the character, and the Christ law must be

known and applied to bring perfect freedom. In the prayer that Jesus gave to His

disciples as a model we have this law embedded in the words “Forgive us our

debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

As you open the way by which your debtors can be free, according to the great equity of God, the way of your own freedom will be revealed.

Let us consider the philosophy of forgiving “our debtors” so that they may be

helped to pay us, if not with money, with something valuable to us. It may be

revealed to us that an old score in some former existence has been balanced and

that they really owe us nothing. At any rate, it is not righteous for us to hold any

thought or feeling against our neighbors, no matter how false their attitude toward us may be, but at all times to have such a state of mind regarding them that they may feel comfortable in our presence and even be glad to think of us.

MENTAL HARASSING MENTAL HARASSING

People often keep their debtors from paying them by mentally harassing them. They wonder with indignation why so and so does not pay that bill,

and perhaps they talk him over with a mutual acquaintance until, if character

were clothes, he does not have a rag to his back. Perhaps they hear that the

debtor is spending money freely, buying luxuries; and the rumor adds fuel to the

flames of resentment.

In the meantime the debtor is exceedingly uncomfortable every time the thought of the creditor comes into his mind, and he shuns him. If he sees him coming, he

will cross the street or in some way avoid a meeting. He may even hate him.

Finally he succeeds in dismissing him from his mind to such an extent that when

he is ready to pay his debts this particular creditor does not come into mind at

all. This uncomfortable feeling is also the reason why one who has received a

favor of money loaned is so often not a good friend after that—the burden of

obligation chafes him.

BEST THOUGHTS FOR DEBTORS

If because of Truth you will not think evil of your debtor—that he is dishonest or

selfish or weak or poverty stricken but will hold him in the what she declared was

true. consciousness of his noble, honorable, true being, you will easily and

happily come into his mind just at the right time along with the desire and also

the ability to do the right thing by you. This was literally demonstrated in the

experience of a woman, a

student of Truth, who like many others had loaned money to a man who made a

failure of the venture in which all the money was sunk. This man left town

followed by the anathemas of all his creditors except this woman. She kept her

mind upon his true self, and whenever the subject of his default was broached

she never spoke against him but always said:

“He will pay me. I have no fear; I trust him, or words of like meaning.

Then news came that he had “struck it rich” in Alaska. This brought no hope to those creditors who had decided that he was thoroughly bad; but the woman soon received a letter, with the full amount of her loan inclosed in it, and the

enlightening words:

“You have never said one word against me, and so I pay you first. The others can wait.” This woman exercised real forgiveness, which is not a sentiment but a

power. She forgave or “gave for” the false appearance of fraud the true thought

of the real man, with the result of proving that Our debts are forgiven us by the

same process of the law of good, substituting freedom from all indebtedness for

the former bondage; and healing the cause, our weakness or ignorance, and

bringing forth our good judgment and insight.