‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and they will have abundance; but from them who do not have, even what little they have will be taken away. Matthew 25:29
The Bible has many lines and passages that seem to make no sense, which are confusing or that contradict other passages. Understandable for a collection of 66 books written by more than 40 authors over more than 2,000 years.
And we know that many other writings that were just as good, just as spiritual, were rejected when what we call “The Bible” was compiled circa. 400 CE. What is one to believe?
This Bible quote must be pretty important, because it also appears in Mark (Mark 4:25) and Luke (8:18). In fact, Matthew thinks it is so important, it shows up twice! (Matthew 13:12)
These lines from Matthew are among the more confusing passages. What are we to make of a God who (supposedly) gives more to people who already have a lot? While those people who have little, God will take away the little that they have?
Pretty mean, huh?
When we unpack the verses metaphysically, we will see that this has nothing to do with what God does. It is completely about what we do to ourselves. It starts first in our minds, our thinking, our consciousness – and then how thinking manifests in our lives, in physical reality.
Jesus is constantly trying to help people understand spiritual laws, spiritual principles. But people constantly misunderstand. He knows that he can’t say the Truth directly. Instead, he speaks indirectly, in parables and allegories, because he knows few will understand his message; his words will “fall on deaf ears.”
So, he uses stories; he uses oblique language to “weed out” those who are not ready, willing, or able to hear the Truth. He wants to attract, to work with only those people who are ready to receive.
In 12-Step recovery you might hear someone say, “This program is for people who want it, not for people who need it.” It’s a sad truth.
While many people might need change in their lives, need to halt their addictions, need to alter course, they do not yet have eyes to see and ears to hear.
There are countless people who need help to right their sinking ship, yet sadly many often have no clue that they’re going down for the third time. When offered help, they refuse – either because they are stubborn or prideful; they think they can manage on their own. Or because they don’t believe it’s “that bad.”
Henry David Thoreau recognized this in himself when he wrote in his journal:
A man receives only what he is ready to receive…. We hear and apprehend only what we already half know. If there is something which does not concern me, which is out of my line, which by experience or by genius my attention is not drawn to, however novel and remarkable it may be, if it is spoken we hear it not, if it is written, we read it not, or if we read it, it does not detain us…. By and by we may be ready to receive what we cannot receive now.
But getting back to Heaven, say “Heaven” to the vast majority of people and most of them will automatically think of a place somewhere (in the sky?) where you go after you die. (likewise for hell but in the other direction).
This misunderstanding of Heaven is so pervasive and universal as to be almost unquestioned. Throughout his teaching ministry, Jesus constantly tells the crowds, what Heaven is like. He says Heaven is like:
a net cast into the sea,
yeast in bread,
seed sown on the ground,
a mustard seed,
ten virgins with lamps,
a wedding feast,
a field with buried treasure,
a pearl of great price…
And he describes what Heaven is like in the parable of the talents:
Heaven is like unto a “Master” (The Universe) Who gives their servants some “talents.” Talents are an ancient form of money. The word has stayed with us, coming down through the Middle Ages, to become the word we know today, meaning assets, gifts, or aptitudes.
One servant gets five talents, one gets two and the third gets one talent. The Master entrusts them with the treasure and then goes away. The one with five invests it and doubles it. Likewise with the servant who got two.
But the servant who received one, they buried it in the ground. When the Master returns, the other two had something to show – greater talents. The third had nothing to show for they had made no effort to increase what God had given them.
You can guess the Master’s reaction.
Why is Heaven like this?
The answer lies in the few times that Jesus speaks directly about heaven, which he does to the Pharisees:
Some of the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the kingdom of God come?”
Jesus answered, “God’s kingdom is coming, but not in a way that you will be able to see with your eyes. People will not say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ because God’s kingdom is within you.”
(Luke 17:20-21, emphasis added)
This is the key.
Heaven is not a place, and certainly not a place we go to when our physical bodies wear out and stop working.
Heaven is a state of consciousness. It is how we think, how we perceive, how we act and react inside – which our thinking, feeling, believing then manifests in the world we experience.
To those who have, much more will be given. People who have a consciousness of abundance, of joy, of prosperity, positivity, optimism… of life, of earnest expectation of good flowing into their lives and into the lives of their loved ones, will have all that they have and more will pour in!
To those who chronically see poverty, lack, depression, illness, disease, evil, fear, joylessness, boredom, despair, negativity, pessimism… the little that they have will leak away and they will have nothing.
Heaven is up to us.
We are given everything. It is up to us as to how we see it, how we use it, how we increase it.
In our consciousness lies the “place” known as Heaven. A state of consciousness of perfect peace. An attitude of abundance. A feeling of freedom.
We all have gifts, talents. When we use them, they increase. We have more.
When we squander or neglect them, our lives wither on the vine. (I know I am mixing many metaphors today!)
In Prosperity Now!, Chapter 9 I write:
The verse is saying: If I have a consciousness of abundance with many positive ideas and beliefs; if I have lots going on, good, wholesome, productive, healthy, worthwhile, enriching, enlivening, loving things; if I have an abundance of ideas, projects, plans, goals, etc., then I am living and embodying a prosperity consciousness. And so, my life will be full. I know I have enough. I have more than enough. This is my tithing affirmation:
I have enough!
I have more than enough!
I have more than enough to share!
And, I am ready to receive more!
This sums it up pretty well, I think. Heaven is within me and as I open up my mind to the Goodness inside, that attitude, that perspective will be reflected outside in the world of illusion, where I decide what my day will be like, what my attitude will be like, what my thoughts, beliefs and words will be like.
And then I am expected (required!) to share what I have; to give of my time, my talents and my treasure for prosperity and the fullness of life (to quote Stratton Smith's 4T Prosperity program).
Talents that are not shared are useless. We must be like Heaven, pouring out our blessings into the world, not burying them in the dirt, so that we can see increase in our lives, in our minds and in the world and people around us.
To one who has much, pour it on because more is coming!
To one who thinks lack, they have lack, and more lack is on its way.
The hopeful Truth is that they of little faith can at any point, chose to change and begin to see:
Heaven in within.
Happy Sunday,
Johnny
I am available to do Prosperity Now! individual or group sessions or general life-coaching, I Ching readings, dream interpretation or join us for our weekly Wednesday Course in Miracles group.
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