Have you ever tried to violate a man-made law? Say, for example, a traffic law? How many times have you violated a traffic law? How many times have you been caught? When we talk about law, it is natural to immediately think of the kind of laws with which we are most familiar. In our everyday life, we are more likely to chat with our spouse or a friend about the guy who cut us off to make an illegal lane change, or the new tax bracket that we just qualified for. These are kind of mushy laws, though. What do I mean by that? I mean that these laws are supposed to be strictly observed, but when they are not, sometimes the violator suffers a civil consequence, sometimes it seems to go unpunished.

So when someone tries to tell you that there are natural laws governing prosperity, or success, there is a tendency to think, "I wouldn't bank on it. Sounds like a 'get rich quick' scheme. They are only after my money. There is no such thing as 'one formula fits all' to making money."

Let me explain something… when you think of law, don't think of man-made laws. They are not absolute enough to compare with the ideas I will be presenting here. When I say "law", rather think of something like gravity. Gravity is a natural law (a law of nature) that is dependable and constant. You don't have to believe in it, you don't have to like it, you don't even have to understand it. You are still subject to it. Everything is subject to it. When we seem to "defy" it, it is because we are using other laws that are dependable and constant as well. We can use our knowledge of laws to our advantage. Ignorance of the laws leaves us limited in our abilities.

One thing I like to point out at this stage of the game is the following idea. With reference to the fact that you don't have to believe in a law to be subject to it, picture this: Suppose that you have firm belief in "mind over matter." You choose not to believe in the law of gravity. You decide that you don't want to be subject to it any more. So you go to the edge of a cliff, and with all of the positive thinking you can muster, you step off. It is no surprise that, once again, gravity proves true and your "mind over matter" turns into a "mind all~a~smatter."

"Mind over matter" is a true principle, don't get me wrong. But it only works when we apply it in harmony to natural laws. Remember that as you read on; because, if you find that you are having a hard time believing any of the laws that I will present, so be it. Just remember that it will save you from a lot of pain if you choose to believe them anyway.

More about 'law'

I think that a man-made law like traffic laws should rather be called "traffic codes of conduct". Tax laws should be called "tax rules". We need them, but they aren't as dependable as the term "law" would indicate. For sake of this course, it is important that when we say law, we are talking about something absolute, something unbreakable, something that just "is". You cannot break a law, you can only break yourself against it. If you violate the law, you most definitely will be sorry you did, and unfortunately there is no mercy if you are ignorant. The consequences will come irregardless of your understanding of the law.

Spiritual laws can be conditional. Sin is when you transgress a spiritual law after you have been given the law and are capable of understanding it. Suppose a 1 year-old snatches a toy from his 3 year-old brother. The spiritual law, had he completely understood it would have instructed him "thou shalt not steal". If he knew better and did it anyway, that would have been sin. Of course, a 1 year-old is incapable of understanding such a principle, so he is innocent. John 9:41 says, "Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth."

Think again about the baby. He doesn't understand the spiritual law, so he will not suffer the consequences typically attached to violation of that spiritual law. However, the natural law of Cause and Effect is an absolute law. No allowance is made for ignorance. The baby stealing the toy from his brother will discover the effects of this law when his older brother begins screaming and crying and perhaps even inflicting pain on the poor little baby!

Understand that God did not apply the consequence. The consequence was spontaneous and natural. I believe that God would prefer no pain be suffered by his children, but we live in a natural world that is governed by natural laws. Natural laws are laws that even God will not alter. He does not control the outcome of abiding or violating them. He does, however, understand them perfectly, and tries to teach us through the scriptures and His prophets how to live in harmony with them. The beautiful thing about understanding them, is that if we choose to live in harmony with them, we will also be following God's spiritual laws because they are in harmony with each other. We will find that we can enjoy happiness and peace and abundance now, and eternal joy in the hereafter. What more could God want for His children?

So what about Matthew 10:25? "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." I have heard it said that in the days of Jesus, the eye of a needle represented an entryway to a city. It was small enough for a camel to enter, only if the camel crawled through on its knees. Humility. And a willingness to remove all extra baggage. Whenever riches are obtained in an "unlawful" manner, specifically, in violation of natural laws, the prosperity is temporary. Many get rich on a competitive plane. Picture a pie, divided into 6 parts. If your piece of the pie represents the prosperity or wealth you enjoy, then to get more, someone must get less. But you will see that to obtain wealth on, rather, a creative plane, what you are doing is adding some pie to the outer rim of your piece, increasing the diameter of the pie, and thus creating a bigger pie for everyone. This is in harmony with natural law, and spiritual law.

So ultimate success = happiness and abundance here and now, and eternal life and exaltation in the hereafter. It is a worthy thing to desire, and you can have it. Just…

"Ask, and it shall be given you," Matthew 7:7. The problem is, we don't really believe it. Why? Because we don't know that there are absolute laws that we can depend on. If you lack faith in God, then you can trust the laws and it will strengthen your faith in God. Isn't that wonderful?! Laws should not be viewed as 'restrictive' any more than a kite should see its string as 'restrictive'.

Please note that the viewpoints and interpretations within this course are the sole responsibility of the author and do not represent official doctrine of any particular denomination.

Copyright 2002, Leslie Householder. All Rights Reserved.