Lesson Eleven

Laying Up Treasures

AFTER the multitude had been fed by the increase of the loaves and fishes, Jesus commanded that they gather up the fragments so that nothing might be lost. "And they all ate, and were filled: and they took up that which remained over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full." Any form of waste is a violation of the divine law of conservation. Everywhere in nature there is evidence of stored-up energy substance, ready for use when needed.

This reserve force is not material but spiritual. It is ready to be called into expression to meet any need. But when it is not put to use or called into expression, there is a manifestation of inharmony or lack either in the body of man or in its outer supply. It is in his wrong conception of this spiritual force that man makes the mistake of falling into the habit of hoarding instead of conserving. He tries to gather things together in the external in a vain effort to avert an imagined shortage in the future and he counts himself rich by the amount of his material possessions.