IT is the nature of God to give. Hence, it must be natural for man to give. Man would not be if he did not give, if he did not image forth or express the nature of God, any more than a ray of light would be if it did not radiate and express the nature of the sun. It is easy to see that a ray of light is not depleted in giving; it could not become depleted, because it ever expresses the nature of its inexhaustible source. It should be equally easy to see that man loses nothing in giving—in expressing his true nature.
If we think that we are giving something which belongs to ourselves, we may well expect to see our supply diminish. But when we realize that our giving is but the recognition of Love's impartation of its own inexhaustible being, then both our supply and our giving will multiply. One cannot increase unless the other increases in like ratio. Our giving may be measured by our recognition of God's abundant supply to us.
In the wilderness Jesus fully proved that "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4). He had fasted forty days and nights, yet he turned from the suggestion that he perform some magic feat to feed himself. Lifting his thought to his source, he proved that self-existent Life was his Life.
