No losers in the divine economy
Jack Edward Hubbell | from The Christian Science Journal
There is only one real economy—perfect, intact, God-directed, and God-protected.
Every day we are confronted with the headlines: Escalating Economic Gloom Ahead. Homes and jobs lost. Consumer prices skyrocketing. Banks failing. Financial institutions going under. What can we do? Or rather, is there anything we can do? Absolutely. We can look for inspiration to the most successful economist the world has ever known—Jesus Christ.
Economics is often called the “dismal science.” Economists consistently predict loss, shortage, lack, disruption, failure. But Jesus’ take on the world was far from a dismal one. In fact, he said, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). He never feared a loss or lack of good. He proved unequivocally that the fear that seems to drive an economic downturn has no place in the kingdom of God, good. He understood that we are governed by the laws of the divine economy.
Human economy vs. divine economy
There is only one real economy—perfect, intact, God-directed, and God-protected.
The divine economy can best be defined by contrasting it to the so-called material economy of supply and demand that we all interact with every day. The word supply designates possession. The word demand indicates lack, or the need to acquire. But Jesus saw that there is no void of good in the omnipresence of God. Jesus demonstrated the grand equipoise of supply and demand, and his works proved that he understood these laws. He rejected the so-called premise of the material economy, and affirmed the spiritual laws that maintain the divine economy. He led us to see that there is only one real economy—perfect, intact, God-directed, and God-protected.
There is no more practical example of this than the Master’s demonstration of supply when he fed 5,000 people with just a few loaves and fishes (see Matt. 14:14–21). People think of this experience as a miracle, but was it? Years ago it may have been considered a miracle for a machine to fly. But today we see flight as the demonstration of aerodynamic law. This law always existed—it just needed to be discovered. In the same way, the laws of God have always existed—they just needed to be revealed to humanity by Jesus. His understanding demonstrated that the power of divine law is the divine economy in action, providing supply in the face of what appeared as impossible demand.
The same laws of abundance that Jesus proved can be utilized by us here and now.
It is important to recognize that meeting our own human needs does not require a miracle—but a demonstration of divine law. Why? Because the same laws of abundance that Jesus proved can be utilized by us here and now. Otherwise, how could Jesus have said, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also” (John 14:12). Although his physical eyes did not see the supply of food needed to feed the thousands, Jesus knew that good was already present. Paul tells us, “Christ shall give thee light” (Eph. 5:14). As we turn on the light of spiritual discernment, we shall see the good already there.
Zero sum vs. infinite supply
When faced with the high costs of college tuition, food prices, living expenses, housing—whatever the financial challenge might be—we can be grateful that the divine laws of supply are just as potent today as they were 2,000 years ago.
Jesus never accepted the theory of zero sum, which argues that there isn’t enough good to go around. Zero sum assumes finite resources, which means that if one person gains, another must lose. But we would never accept a limited number of 2s or 4s to solve a mathematical problem. Science and Health makes the bold statement, “Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind …” (Science and Health, p. 60). Not just for ourselves, but for the world, we need to be alert that we’re not accepting zero sum thinking in limiting our expectations of God’s goodness being manifested in practical ways. Jesus said, “Your joy no man taketh from you” (John 16:22). There are no losers in the divine economy.
Jesus never feared the consequences of cycles, because he understood that there are no ‘cycles’ of divine law.
Business cycles are another area of the economy over which we appear to have no control. But Jesus never feared the consequences of cycles, because he understood that there are no “cycles” of divine law. Divine law does not fluctuate. It is undeviating in controlling every aspect of the divine economy yesterday, today, and forever. Recently, the owner of a cleaning service for several major office buildings called a Christian Science practitioner. The business owner had lost a majority of his customers and was forced to lay off several crews. He feared that his business was failing. The practitioner and the owner prayed together to gain a better understanding of the spiritual basis of a business. They saw that the purpose of the business is to provide valuable service by fulfilling a need. With this right idea of business, the motive was uplifted from a desire to just make money. They talked about how business is not one’s income, but one’s outgo—what one does to serve, to bless, to express God’s qualities in our lives. God is the source of one’s income.
With an understanding of this truth filling consciousness, the business owner called the practitioner a few days later to report there had been a dramatic increase in business. Not only were the original crews rehired, but additional crews and trucks were added. Today, the company thrives as the owner consistently sees his business as the activity of right ideas.
Another aspect of today’s business “crunch” is tightening credit and a threatened shortage of capital. The belief that we base our security on money and assets needs to be replaced with the understanding that real capital is the substance of Spirit, good. This spiritual capital is sustained by God and is continuously imparted to each of us in practical ways. As a result, we can think in terms of spiritually minded financing, as well as spiritually minded production, sales, and marketing.
Unemployment vs. uninterrupted good
Our primary job is to represent God by expressing His qualities.
Jesus said, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49). We, too, must be about our Father’s business. Our primary job is to represent God by expressing His qualities. Nothing can deprive us of this employment. No state of the economy can stop God from expressing Himself/Herself or prevent us from being that expression. This employment as the expression of God is now—and will continue to be—uninterrupted, unlimited, and always productive. When one’s financial security is rooted firmly in God, we are never dependent on an employer or a particular job. Affirming these truths, we reject the concept of ourselves as laboring mortals, always at the mercy of the economy, but instead know ourselves as God’s spiritual ideas.
But how does declaring the truth translate into the income on which we depend? Can we really apply divine law to our practical need of a paycheck? Yes! Because HC = HE. Human consciousness equals human experience. What we hold in our thought is objectified as our experience. “Human consciousness” is a term used to indicate a supposed mixture of divine ideas and false concepts. In his parable of the tares and the wheat (see Matt. 13:24–30), Jesus explained the importance of removing the tares—the false concepts—leaving only the wheat, the right ideas at the harvest. Mary Baker Eddy wrote in Science and Health: “Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts” (Science and Health, p. 261).
As our consciousness becomes more imbued with the recognition that God’s great love meets every human need, we see the practical evidence in our daily lives. Wholly engaged in expressing God, we find that we are always in the right place, at the right time, doing the right work, with the right reward.
Physical housing vs. spiritual home
And how do we handle fear regarding the housing market when the word crisis is so frequently used to describe it? What an opportunity to be reminded of where our true home is. The Apostle Paul affirms that God is our true dwelling place. He states, “In him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). As we understand what home really is, we see that no economic conditions can cause anyone to be deprived of their home. Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). What a joy to realize that we can no more be separated from our true home than we can be separated from God.
Whether we are finding, selling, buying, renting, or leasing a home, we can recognize and claim that we already include all the Godlike qualities comprising our home—qualities such as love, harmony, beauty, order, and peace. These are not material and therefore are incapable of being lost or vulnerable to market conditions. We can know that buyers’ and sellers’ markets, high interest rates, and inflation are powerless to obscure or destroy the right idea of home in consciousness.
Science and Health refers to man as “the compound idea of God, including all right ideas …” (Science and Health, p. 475). Therefore, man includes the truth, the right idea that eliminates a false concept. What appears as limitation or lack is only a lie about a right idea. The right idea of business destroys the lie—the false concept—of business failure. The right idea of employment destroys the false concept of unemployment. The right idea of home destroys the false concept of loss of one’s home.
We are not helpless pawns in an economic system.
When we understand that we include all right ideas, we have all we ever need. When confronted by negative economic reports, we can firmly hold to the spiritual fact that we are not helpless pawns in an economic system, subject to conditions that threaten our well-being. Our happiness is based on the divine economy, by which God’s entire universe operates in accordance with divine Principle. As the infinite expression of divine Life, we know no lack, deprivation, or depletion. God’s infinite, omnipresent abundance is always man’s sufficiency.
As a Christian Scientist, one never ignores the threat of economic adversity. Rather, we confidently replace any fear of a volatile economy with the understanding that God’s law governs all. “Fear never stopped being and its action” (Science and Health, p. 151). Fear has no power to stop God’s provision, and in proportion that we see this, we shall see good manifested in our financial situation, permitting us to live joyfully under the laws of the divine economy.
As we understand this truth, for ourselves and everyone else, we become the most enlightened economists on the globe.
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