Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART XXVII
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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- “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6).
- “The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him?…..For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him” (Matthew 21:25, 32).
- “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not…….” (Matthew 24:23-26).
It has been quite some time since we first published this list as a part of an larger list of sayings by the Master regarding faith and believing and we get back to them here today. Much of our writing on our other topics over the last several posts is in direct relationship to this theme albeit from a different perspective; some from the writing of the Apostle Paul to the Galatians and others because these ideas of faith and believing are a central part of the doctrines of the churches which tend to minimize these ideas for use by the general church audience. We have also gone more deeply into our own ideas of faith and believing as we define them as essential parts in the Life of the disciple and the aspirant and which we realize KNOWING as faith and reliance upon that KNOWING as believing. What it is that we claim that we KNOW is simply the reality of the Master’s words and His intent in speaking them which intent is for us to make disciples of ALL men by outlining the criteria and the responsibilities of being such. Plus, in KNOWING these things, that we KNOW as well that it is the goal and the objective of a man to accomplish this fact of True discipleship while living here on this Earth as a man in form. This is the battleground and it is here that one MUST overcome and most ALL of the teaching of the Master and His apostles are directed as this Prime Objective of Life.
The sayings on faith and believing that we have covered started with some of the apparently clear words of the Master; clear because the reality of their meaning is easier to discern from our perspective and from the idea that we have but recently assembled which paints for us faith as KNOWING and believing as our reliance on the KNOWING. There are however places where these two ideas function together and where the same thoughts are conveyed to us by either word and, there are yet others where the words do not take on the severity of what we are defining them as. In saying this, we are saying that it is important to understand the context in which the words are used in order to ascertain if the meanings are intended in this deeper spiritual context of KNOWING or if they are simple affirmations of the reality or the relative Truth of a thing. Our first three selections for this were:
- “When Jesus heard it, he marvelled , and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel……And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way ; and as thou hast believed , so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour” (Matthew 8:10, 13).
- “And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened” (Matthew 9:27-29).
- “And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive“(Matthew 21:10-22).
Looking at these we can see the deeper spiritual nature of each. The centurion KNOWS that his servant will be healed. He KNOWS because of what he has seen and heard of the Master and as we can see, he is totally reliant upon this KNOWLEDGE in his asking and in his receiving. We ventured to say in our comments on these verses that the centurion, like so many who came into incarnation with the Master, His apostles, disciples, parents, etc, came with their interaction with the Master as a part of their several ability; that is that they were advanced enough as Souls that they could come and play a part in this Greatest of ALL Dramas of Life. Now we must understand that there is no certainty in this premise but, at the same time, it is a more likely explanation than the centurion was a random man who was able to KNOW to the degree that would be necessary for the Master to comment that “I have not found I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel, no, not in Israel”. Here we see also the marriage of faith and believing as the centurion has “so great faith” and at the same time the ‘miracle’ occurs according to the word of the Christ saying: “as thou hast believed , so be it done unto thee“
In the next group of verses there are of the two blind men who we are told are healed by their own faith and because they believed that the Master could heal them. Here we see the words in rather reversed positions with the idea that they believed that He could heal them taking on the position of KNOWING and the idea of faith the reliance of that KNOWING. They KNOW the Master can and they rely upon that KNOWLEDGE for the completion of the act can be the way to view this in our terms but we must add in here that unbeknownst to them, they play a vital role in their own healing as the centurion plays the same in the healing of his servant. This should show us two things; first, the one relationship between the Christ and the Christ Within of each man to the extent that even though they are reliant on the outside force of the Master’s word, it is in reality the Inner Voice of their own Souls that is working these ‘miracles’ out in the world of men. In that day they were better able to externalize their KNOWING because of seeing and hearing than they were able to rely on this KNOWING being a personal thing and this the Master KNOWS and understands and, at the same time He points out for us the Truth. The second is that these two words, faith and believing, are in reality the same thought much like the Spirit and the Soul are only one entity viewed differently in time and space. While we can separate them and define faith and believing, they are from the same root word in the Greek and do have much similarity in their meanings according to the use that we see in the gospels. We will continue to treat them separately but at the same time we will remind ourselves of the hard relationship between them and of the interchangeability as we see in the two sayings above.
We should also KNOW and try to understand the Pure Power of KNOWING and the effect of this, by degree, in the Life of men in form. We said earlier that this KNOWING is in our rightful discernment of the words of the Master who tells us that we can do these things as men in form if we can but KNOW that we can and herein lies our understanding as above; of faith as KNOWING and believing as reliance upon that KNOWING which we will here say is also that idea presented by the Master as ‘doubt not‘. In the next saying above this can become clear to us as these are His words of assurance that we CAN do these things, ALL things. Here He frames this as “have faith, and doubt not” and we should ever understand that this KNOWING and this reliance upon that KNOWING can only come from the Inner Man, the Soul, the Christ Within, and that these these things of which the Master is speaking CAN NOT be the ken nor be in the ability of the mortal, carnal man. It is unfortunate that this entire saying as we read it above from Matthew’s Gospel is taken by doctrine to rely only on the very last part and this is taken without the rightful discernment of the words of the Master. It is taught by many as the faith to receive whatsoever a man may want in this Life on Earth and by simply believing that one will receive. Going further, the inability of any to receive that for which he prays is allotted to either that it was NOT the Will of God or else that the person did not have the right intensity of belief for lack of a better way of saying this.
Can we see the reality of KNOWING in the way that we have premised it? Can we understand that in the right discernment of the Master’s words comes the reality of KNOWING as it comes from the Inner Man? Based upon the totality of the Master’s words and the words of His apostles, do we see how any and ALL believing and faith in the gaining of things in this Earth are not the reality that the Master is teaching to us? Can we understand that when the Master says: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is , there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21), that He IS NOT offering us contradictory sayings as the way that many perceive “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” to mean things of the Earth? The reality here is that those who are aspirants and who are determined to become His disciples will KNOW the reality of His words and this can be seen as the beginning of the forsaking that is vitally necessary to discipleship as there is only ONE possible meaning to His words that “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33).
Continuing on we come to our next sayings on faith and believing as they are listed at the top of the page:
- “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6). Here we have a bit of a different approach to this word believe and the context here is rather clear. The word rendered as offend is said in other versions as to cause to stumble, to cause to fall into sin, to ensnare and to cause to sin. We should see in this thought the idea that if anyone teaches or encourages “one of these little ones which believe in me” things that are contrary to that which in their innocence they KNOW of the Master’s words and teaching, woe unto him. The idea here can be that these “little ones which believe” can be dissuaded by those in the world to do worldly things whereas this is likely not in the heart of the “little ones“. Their hearts are yet on the Good, the Beautiful and the True as this proceeds from the Soul and in their innocence and trusting their hearts are fragile and can be easily moved. This is a difficult concept to grasp as most all that one can teach the child about Life in the world can serve to take that child further away from the innocence and trusting and their version of KNOWING. It is likely safe to say that the Master’s reference here is toward the gross and the vile rather than the common but who is it that can say where the line may be; Can we see here that the Master is giving instruction that we should KEEP the children’s focus upon the things of God?
- “The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him?…..For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him” (Matthew 21:25, 32). Here we get a glimpse of believing from the perspective of those who offer the Good, the Beautiful and the True regardless of who they might be; John is not the Christ but by his very works, his fruits if you will, he was KNOWN by many to be a man of God. Here we have the reality of the “the publicans and the harlots“; they believed him as he gave them a teaching that, although it was contrary to their way of Life, was not contrary to their own sense of righteousness. Here, regardless of how they may have lived in the world, are men who have some realization, some KNOWING, that what they do is against the precepts of the law and of God but they do so as a way of Life in the world. In this KNOWING which is ever by degree, “the publicans and the harlots” believe the words of the Baptist and repent while the Pharisees and the other ‘religious’ men see only competition and rebuttal in John’s words and they DO NOT KNOW the reality and the Truth of his words. These men cannot rely upon the words of the Baptist for selfish reasons while “the publicans and the harlots” rely fully upon them and are ‘saved‘. Can we see how this can work with any ‘man of God’ and his teachings? Can we see here the reality of the Master’s words that “by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20)? Let us not forget the defining terms of fruit lest we fall prey to those whose fruit is of the things of the world.
We will close here for today and finish with our last selection on faith and believing in our next post:
- “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not…….” (Matthew 24:23-26).
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.
We leave our Quote of the Day again for today. In this is the reality of discipleship and the selflessness, the willing selflessness that is its hallmark.
“He who faces the light of His Soul and stands within its radiance is blinded to the issues of the world of men; he passes on the lighted way to the Kingdom of God. But he who feels the urge to pass that way, yet loves his brother on the darkened path, revolves upon the pedestal of light and turns the other way.”
“He faces towards the dark and then the seven points of light within himself transmit the outward streaming light, and lo! the face of those upon the darkened way receives that light. For them, the way is not so dark. Behind the warriors—twixt the light and dark—blazes the light of the Kingdom itself.“**
We previously posted this saying in In the Words of Jesus part 367 and did so in conjunction with the Master’s teaching on the idea that “But many that are first shall be last; and the last first” (Mark 10:31) and His teaching about the mustard seed where, in Luke’s Gospel, he says: “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:5-10)”. In this context we say about the words above: Remembering that the Master is speaking to His disciples in both instances above and both are, in our view, explanatory of the nature of the disciple; that he will accomplish what he has to do, his duty if you will, but will continue on in the service of the Lord and give his ALL in service to his fellowmen. There an ancient aphorism which states this truth in a different way and on which we have taken the liberty of rendering in a more understandable language.
