LIVING IN THE LIGHT (continued)
So what then is Living in the Light. As discussed it is living in the light of the teachings of the Master or, rather, living the teachings of the Master. As we know the greatest of His teachings is on Love. In His words we find love thy neighbour, love thy enemy, love the Lord, love one another, and in His prayer to the Father at near the end He asked that the Love of God be in us when He said: “O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love where with thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:25-26). He also talks of His love for us as that which we should have for one another: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:34). He tells us too that He will love us if we keep His commandments and we should remember in this that HIS NEW COMMANDMENT IS LOVE; “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” (John 14;21).
The criteria for loving Him and loving God is founded in love as well. Jesus made this abundantly clear but are we listening? Is this just another case of “hearing they hear not, neither do they understand” (Matthew 13:13)? His words are “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15) and we see above His commandment is LOVE; not only, but the NEW commandment He gives is and what He calls the Greatest Commandment is also as we earlier read “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it , Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 32:37-39).
The Apostle John tells us of Jesus that He “was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9). And Jesus tells us that “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12) and what is it to follow the Master but to do His word and to serve Him. So, He is Light, He brings us Light and then we too are Light as the Master told us when he said of us “Ye are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). Now we should understand this all spiritually. The light that is within us is an aspect of our spiritual being much like Christ is as aspect of God. Our great calling is to “Let your light so shine before men” (Matthew 5:16) and this is Living in the Light and in that Light is the Wisdom and the Love of God. Living in the Light then is much like or even the same thing as being in His Presence and dwelling in the Kingdom of God. In all it is letting the higher life, the spiritual life pour through our carnal presence.
That inner light of spiritual life shines through and exhibits itself as Love and as Wisdom in our daily lives overcoming the lower inclinations. The Apostle Paul puts this forth succinctly when he says: This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these (fill in the blanks here based on your life) ______, ______, ______, ______, ______, ______, and such like: of the which I tell you before , as I have also told you in time past , that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16-25).
Living in the Light is setting the focus of our daily lives on things spiritual and not on things of this world. In each of the essay series heretofore this has been the theme behind the theme. What we focus on becomes what our treasure is; it becomes what is in our hearts daily; it becomes our motivation and our life’s call. If the call of the world motivates us to be more, to earn more or to have more then these things are blocking the light and casting a shadow in which we then live. If the call of the senses moves us to seek the pleasures of the senses be it sex or alcohol or drugs or any combination of these type things then these are blocking the light from within and from above and casting a shadow over our daily lives. It is only to the degree that we focus on the light and on spiritual living that the light will shine through from our Souls, our Inner Man, our Christ Within.
And this is always a choice. Once the True Light is sensed the battle will rage everyday between the higher and the lower until it is won. There are some in whom there is no battle; some who never think of or see the higher impulse and who dwell in darkness. But even these, by some awakening to what and where they truly are, can find light. Jesus speaks of Light in this relationship saying: “The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light” (Luke 11:34-36) Understand here that the eye refers not to the physical eye but as the Greek Lexicon says it is the eyes of the mind, the faculty of knowing**. Also, the term single is defined as simple, single; whole; good fulfilling its office, sound (of the eye) **. Now the picture here says that if our knowing is good, that is, what we do is good, then our whole body is full of light. Knowing should be seen as an aspect of wisdom and of the heart, the personality in form (see parts 8 & 9) so that we can say that if the heart is right, if it is receiving the light from above and within, we will see and do in the light. Conversely, if the influence that the heart, the personality in form, receives is from the world and from the senses then, according to Jesus’ teaching, we see and do in the darkness. Most likely the majority of us who seek to live the spiritual life find ourselves somewhere in the middle of these; that is we live in the light or strive toward it but there are areas of shadow, of battles that have not yet been won.
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom (Psalm 90:12). Today’s quote of the day is a great saying by the Psalm writer. It reminds us that there is no way to tell how much time any of us have here and that we should make the most and the best of it. Similar to this is Christ teaching that “Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is” (Matthew 13:33) and the further teaching in the parable that follows.
** from New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
