Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CXCI
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
GoodWill IS Love in Action
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren” (James 1:12-16).
In the last post we continued our discussion of the Master’s criteria for discipleship which might be better phrased as His stated requirements. In His list of things that we discussed two posts back we should be able to find ALL those things that keep us tied to the world and from this perspective we should see these requirements as being self imposed and, at the same time necessary, for a man to achieve this High Calling. We can say that the Master’s sayings that set forth this criteria for discipleship is an expansion of the single idea of “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13) and, from the perspective of the aspirant, the man who is striving and Truly desirous of such attainment as discipleship provides, there is likely no Truer saying as this man will realize that ALL attachments to the world of things and the things of the world puts him into this arena of serving mammon. We should not misconstrue this reality; this parabolic saying, while meaning different things to different men, has this overriding meaning of choice; choosing to remain in the world and of the world or choosing to focus upon the things of God. This is also the reality of the Master’s admonishment that we strive as He KNOWS, understands and tells us of the difficulty of achievement of this goal of discipleship, the Kingdom of God, which are our eventual expression of the Love and the Power of the Soul, the Christ Within and the Kingdom through our forms here on this Earth.
The Master’s words on this choice between God and mammon are offered to us in two different contexts. In the Apostle Matthew’s Gospel we find this as a part of the Sermon on the Mount which we envision as a rambling dissertation by the Master that covers most ALL things that we as men in the world must deal with and gives us instruction on how to do so from the perspective of the man in form. This Sermon covers three chapters of Matthew’s Gospel and is a cornerstone teaching on how to see Life as the Master teaches and as it should be seen. Here, in the midst of the Sermon come these words: “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24) and this saying seems to be a new thought with His having just completed His teaching on those ideas of giving, prayer, fasting, on forgiveness and on the treasures of the heart. The Master goes on from here to telling us about the single eye which can be seen as His way of telling us of the need to have a single focus and if that focus is on the world, then the result is spiritual darkness. Now we understand that ALL things that the Master says are intimately connected as there is but one objective of them ALL and this IS the Kingdom of God and it is important to understand these connections as we read His words and look for their context. Here, in the midst of His instructions, we see the idea of NOT doing a thing, giving or praying, so that one can be seen and heard doing so as to gain some notoriety; we see then the reality of the need for forgiveness which tells us that we cannot hold men accountable for those things that they may do as men because they most likely do not understand the realities of Life and with this we can go to the time of the crucifixion where the Master Himself gives us His example and makes this grand notation saying “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34) and this IS done in His understanding that they “think that he doeth God service” (John 16:2). We see in His words in the Sermon that He is marking out those things that are of the world and those that are NOT and He is showing that there is choice to be made in things of thought, attitude and action as He moves toward His speaking of the treasures of the heart where we should be able to see that His reference here IS NOT only of the things, the possessions and the wealth, but IS inclusive of ALL things including those thoughts, attitudes and actions.
His thoughts on God and mammon from Matthew’s Gospel follow these several ideas which we will pick up after His teaching of the Prayer, forgiveness and fasting; 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. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” (Matthew 6:19-25).
We can see here the transition from speaking about the single eye, which should be seen as one’s focus. This is not the normal view and we can see our point better in Vincent’s words about the use of the Greek word haplous in this context; Vincent tells us: Single (aplouv). The picture underlying this adjective is that of a piece of cloth or other material, neatly folded once, and without a variety of complicated folds. Hence the idea of simplicity or singleness (compare simplicity from the Latin simplex; semel, once; plicare, to fold). So, in a moral sense, artless, plain, pure. Here sound, as opposed to evil or diseased. Possibly with reference to the double-mindedness and indecision condemned in ver. 24 4; verse 24 is of course our target saying on God and mammon. From Vincent’s thoughts we can understand that the single eye is that one which is focused on the things of God and, of course, the evil eye is that which is focused on the the things of the world. The Master here goes on to tell us of the choice between God and mammon and we should try to see how the idea of the eye, the focus of one’s Life, is translated by the Master into a sense of service which serves here to interpret His words from the parabolic hint of Life in the world and of serving to the more spiritual understanding of focus thereby saying that one CAN NOT focus on God and on mammon…..again, a choice MUST BE MADE.
From here the Master moves on by way of “Therefore I say unto you” which is to show His intent in the connection between one’s focus on either God or mammon and His instruction that in the right focus a man should “Take no thought” and the first and most inclusive thing to NOT think on IS “thought for your life“. In a long trip around His words, this brings us to the thought that we left off with in the last post: the idea of one hating “his own life also“. We are here going back to the sayings in Luke regarding discipleship which are clear and pointed except for the Master’s use of the word hate which we have taken to give us the reality that NO thing, no thought, no emotion, no attitude and no thought can come between the True disciple and his discipleship…NO thing can be of more importance to a man than is His expression of the Love and the Power of the Soul, the Christ Within and the Kingdom, in this world of men. The True disciples single eye, his focus, must be on the things of God and not on the things of the world and the reality here IS so total that it includes one’s very Life on this Earth. In His words “Take no thought for your life” we should see the ultimate realization that this temporal Life in form is just that and beyond the opportunity offered to advance spiritually, it serves no great purpose but for the continuation of Life in form. In our saying from the Apostle Luke: “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26) we should see this reality among the others; that we CAN NOT care for, nor take thought for our “own life also“….NO THING can stand before the consummation of that High Calling of discipleship. As we presented above, this is not so much the Master’s requirement as a rule of His as it is the natural way of Life, that it IS NOT possible for one to be a disciple of the Master if any thing has more importance to him than being such; one can ONLY be a disciple if he is of that same single eye that we see above and in the way that the Apostle James frames this for us saying: “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8) we should should see the ultimate reality that “Ye cannot serve God and mammon“.
ALL this is to say that this idea of choosing one’s point of focus takes on ALL things possible in the world including one’s “own life also” in te world and in this we should be able to see as well the culmination of our discussion from previous posts regarding forsaking ALL…there can be noting held back in this endeavor. So then in addition to the Master’s instructions on “Take no thought” we have also the note to the aspirant who Truly desires discipleship that he must hate “his own life also” and from these we should understand the reality of and the importance of the single eye and one’s focus only upon the things of God. When we understand the reality of this, we are likely to feel overwhelmed with the difficulty, a difficulty that the Master points out to us in many ways both direct and indirect and it is here that we should take one of His points which is that we “counteth the cost” (Luke 14:24) which saying appears just after the Master’s remarks on hating ALL things of the world and taking up one’s cross. He tells us by parable that we must “counteth the cost” and just after these parables he tells us “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). This IS the difficult way of the disciple and in seeing and living in and through this difficulty we have to always keep in mind His instruction and our reality which is to “Strive to enter in at the strait gate” and He tells us this with acknowledgement of the difficulty and of the possibility of failure as he finishes this saying with: “for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24). The Apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Galatians tells us that we should “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9). In this we should see the words of the Master amplified by the simple understanding that we will reap what we sow and it is ONLY in that sowing “in well doing” with consistency and persistence that we will reap that reward of “life everlasting” which we should understand as our realization of the Kingdom Within and the expression through our form of the Christ Within…..this IS discipleship. In the meantime, we strive and we KNOW that we are accumulating much spiritual collateral which is not wasted as we “shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” by our persistence and if we cannot accomplish this in this incarnation, we will surly be better and more prepared for the next. We should add here that there are also benefits in the afterlife for those of us whose focus does not dwell on the things of the world; we will see an easier and more fruitful transition that is not nearly so clouded as it would be if we are overly focused what we may think we are as men in form.
Our thoughts above are in conjunction with our look at the choice between God and mammon as we read in the Gospel of Matthew; in Luke’s Gospel the context is rather different and can give us additional insights into the ideas and the intent of the Master. In Luke’s Gospel we find the words following upon the Parable of the Unjust Steward, a man who is totally focused upon the world and the things of the world and who even gains words of ‘praise’ from the Master saying that “And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light” (Luke 16:8). Now we should recognize that this IS a parable and the praise is parabolic but we should also see the reality of His words that say a great Truth regarding the nature of man in this world. And this ALL IS the vanity that Paul speaks of, the vanity that we are subjected to as the human race of Earth beings. We should understand here that the idea of subjection to vanity is spoke of from the perspective of the Soul, the Life and consciousness that is the True man that IS living through the form and this vanity, this illusion and glamour, is what prevents the True man from realizing what and who he IS. So then lost in this illusion and glamour, this vanity, the man in form attributes his consciousness to the form, lives for the form and for the things of the world; this is the natural state of the man in the Earth and this is the state from which he must be delivered or, rather, he must deliver himself.We close here with these words from Paul and we will open tomorrow in this same place, discussing the ideas of God and mammon from the perspective of the gospel of Luke.
“For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21).
While it may seem like we are deviating from our discussion on the sayings of the Master regarding discipleship, we have not as the above and our continuation are about the choices that must be made as we are led to the Kingdom of God. We will continue with our thoughts in the next post and get back to our two remaining sayings below.
- “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” (John 8:31).
- “Herein is my Father glorified , that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8).
| Aspect of God |
Potency |
Aspect of Man |
In Relation to the Great Invocation |
In relation to the Christ |
|
GOD, The Father |
Will or Power |
Spirit or Life |
Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN |
Life |
|
Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Soul or Christ Within |
Heart of God |
Truth |
|
Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Life Within |
Mind of God |
Way
|
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:
Leaving again the Great Invocation, we encourage ALL to read and reread it and our comments as in these words can be found the keys to our spiritual reality.
From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.
From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.
From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men–
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.
From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.
Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.
This prayer is a part of our Prayers and Meditations section and there is much information about it there and in our discussion of it in the Quote of the Day section of In the Words of Jesus parts 128-132
The above Invocation or Prayer does not belong to any person or group but to all Humanity. The beauty and the strength of this Invocation lies in its simplicity, and in its expression of certain central truths which all men, innately and normally, accept—the truth of the existence of a basic Intelligence to Whom we vaguely give the name of God; the truth that behind all outer seeming, the motivating power of the universe is Love; the truth that a great Individuality came to earth, called by Christians, the Christ, and embodied that love so that we could understand; the truth that both love and intelligence are effects of what is called the Will of God; and finally the self-evident truth that only through humanity itself can the Divine Plan work out.
Like the Lord’s Prayer, this invocation is a World Prayer which is as all that a prayer is intended to be. It is a prayer for the uplifting of the Human Family out of the mire of materialism and selfishness. The Lord’s Prayer asks nothing for the individual praying it but asks that its benefits be for US and for WE which is why it was given by the Christ as a prayer and as a model over 2000 years ago. This invocation is also attributed to the Christ who, as He promised, has never left us; He, through channels that we do not readily understand, has Himself instructed His disciples to distribute this prayer and to encourage its use as a world prayer and as an aid in preparing the world for His return.
The first three stanzas of this prayer should be understood as reflecting the effective potencies of the Trinity which is God and which, when brought down to an individual level, the Trinity which is Man. His Will, His Love and His Light we should seen as the Potent Powers of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
