Yeshua says: If you bring forth
that which is within you,
that which you have will save you.

If you do not bring it forth,
then that which you lack will kill you.

(Luke 6:37,38; James 1:22-25)

I only truly discover what I “have” when I “bring forth that which is within.”

In Saying 63 Yeshua described a man who

had many possessions
and said to himself: ‘I will use my riches to sow, plant, and harvest.
Then my storehouses will be full and I will lack nothing.’

This man who thinks he lacks “nothing” in fact lacks everything. He is impoverished in his inner life and so, no matter how much material wealth he may possess, he lacks the one thing that is essential to a truly human life.

Material well-being has the capacity to cover up true poverty; it has no power to impart true riches.

In the version of the story told in Saying 63 that appears in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus concludes his cautionary tale with a warning for

those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.
(Luke 12:21)

When I live in touch with that which is “within” me, I am “rich towards God,” and that richness naturally and spontaneously flows forth in action. That which is “within” me is the presence and power of love.

When I hinder the flow of love that which “I lack” will “kill” me.  From this place of death I can only manifest death.

The way of life is the way of love.  Love is never static, never inert; it always moves the one who surrenders to its power.

Jesus said,

give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back. (Luke 6:38)

It is a fundamental truth of the spiritual life that I only truly have that which I give away. It is in the giving away that true life resides. It is the nature of love to be generous and to pour fourth into the world, manifesting compassion, healing, and reconciliation.

**********

Today I will seek to watch any tendency within myself towards hoarding and will seek to reconnect with my awareness of that inner well-spring of love which naturally flows forth in loving action.