ON LOVE; PART DXLV
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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“The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
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“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, 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. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40).
In the last essay we found yet more to say about the Master’s use of the Greek word rendered as perfect by most translations of the Bible. For us the idea IS to see this word in its broadest possible meaning as here we are speaking about God and when the Master offers us this saying, He does not offer any additional criteria; He simply says: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). While some may believe that the Master IS speaking in terms of the preceding sayings, this IS NOT stated and therefore this should be seen as the totality of ALL things, of doing the Will of God of which Jesus also says: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Keeping His words and doing His Will IS the reality of this perfection; it is the Way to the Kingdom and the Way to the Truth of discipleship which comes upon us by degree according to His set criteria. And for those who DO believe that this saying on perfection IS related only to the preceding sayings, we should say that if a man can accomplish these sayings, if he could Love as the Master says and with the equanimity of the Father, he would find this same perfection; we read:
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:44:48).
In these words is the Truth of Love thy neighbor, every and ALL neighbors, that same view as the Father has Who gives the sun to ALL and the rain without prejudice. In this we see Jesus words that are clarified for us by the apostles who say that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34) and that in one’s expression of Love that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). Love IS the way par excellence to this perfection as, if a man Truly Loves, it then becomes impossible for him to go against any other law or commandment and it IS in this Love that a man Truly Loves God. This is what one will take from the preceding words in honest interpretation and while we see this idea of perfect as a more universal commandment, it does work out in Life just as well using these ideas on Love. But this IS Love for ALL and this IS not that emotional or mental attachment or attraction to others or to things; this IS the respect for ALL men, this IS GoodWill toward ALL men, this Love IS the consistent practice of the Golden Rule through which we accord ALL men whatsoever we would accord for ourselves. We read in these words that precede Jesus words on being perfect a very important part of the Truth of the Master’s message, a part that is little mentioned in Christian teaching, a part that tells us clearly “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11). And if a man Truly lives in Love then there is “no respect of persons” in his expression to the world either and James’ puts this into a human perspective for us saying: “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors“. James shows us the importance of this idea by continuing his words saying: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:9-10).
This idea of perfection IS of paramount importance to the aspirant and the disciple as it IS in this state of being that a man IS expressing the Truth and the Love and the Power of the Soul through his Life in this world and this IS the objective and the goal of ALL. That doctrine does not see this IS of NO importance to us whatsoever as neither do most see the Truth of Love and the inherent equality of ALL men as Souls expressing through form.
In the last post we discussed the beginning of the sixth chapter of Matthew regarding the idea of giving and then on the idea of prayer and we noted the similarity of how these are to be done in the Master’s idea of secret. For the instruction on giving He tells us that we should “let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth” and on the way of prayer that “when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret” (Matthew 6:3, 6). From the human perspective these are intended to show us that these things are not to be boastful acts nor acts that afford a man any praise but that these are very close and personal matters that should not be shared with others. We noted that this IS NOT the interpretation of most and that the organized church’s own ways contradict the spirit of these ideas. And we should note one more thing; that as disciples and aspirants we are instructed to give ALL and to forsake ALL so that these ideas of giving CAN NOT be solely related to substance but to ALL that a spiritual man can give….he seeks no notoriety. With prayer we have an equal expression in the Master’s words, that the prayer should not be for substance of any kind as “your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him“; in this can also see the idea that prayer is of no avail as a way of seeking intercession or things of substance and that there are deeper ideas at work in regard to accomplishing one’s spiritual goals. Perhaps the whole of the Master’s idea here IS that one should NOT pray for aught for the self and especially the self in the world. We can see this reality in the prayer that He offers us and which we call the Lord’s Prayer:
“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen” (Matthew 6:9-13).
Over the course of our writing these blog posts we have discussed the Lord’s Prayer many times and we generally use the verison from the Book Of Common Prayer of 1662 as this combines the ideas from Matthew and Luke’s slightly different versions. We discuss this version in some detail in an article which can be found in the Prayers and Meditations section on the front page of our blog site. Here in Matthew’s Gospel the Master offers this prayer unsolicited as a part of His discussion on prayer in this Sermon on the Mount while in Luke’s Gospel he offers this in response to a question from His disciples. Both versions DO say the same thing albeit in slightly different language which IS especially evident in the idea of debts and debtors which is given as sin as debtors by Luke; this idea in the Common Prayer version is presented as trespass. In the combination of these words, debts, sins and trespasses, we should see the reality of the Master’s intent; that this includes debts of substance as well as the idea of offenses which can create a debt but in the idea of sin we should see the reality of what this Truly means. Sin IS not the offense itself but rather the worldly attitude of the man and it IS in this attitude that one man can offend another. The idea presented here should be inclusive of ALL things whatsoever that one man can have against another; ALL things that can inhibit Love. And, like the Golden Rule, this IS NOT intended to be a reciprocal saying as we forgive ALL in this prayer which is an affirmation of what we should see in Life and not Truly a request for anything.
The main point to be taken from this prayer IS that there is nothing for the self; the prayer addresses OURS and NOT mine; it prays for US and NOT me. In this regard this IS a universal prayer, a world prayer, and NOT a solicitation for some thing or some intercession from God. And this IS how this should be viewed; as a world prayer that seeks the Will of God in the Earth; a prayer for the sustenance of ALL men both in substance and in spiritual food as “Man shall not live by bread alone” (Matthew 4:4); a prayer for Peace and harmony through the forgiveness of ALL things plus the strength to resist temptation and the wherewithal to be delivered from evil. In the reality found in Jesus parabolic language we should be able to see the Truth of God, that when we pray this prayer we pray to that God Within for as “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21) so IS the God whose Kingdom this IS. This IS our reality; that we pray this prayer as an affirmation of the divine nature of God and the God Within; we pray that the Power of that Kingdom come into our lives individually and corporately and that in this coming that the Will of God will become the will of man and this of course must needs begin with oneself. The last part of this prayer is unique to Matthew’s version as IS also the Master’s continued expression of these Truths as he make forgiveness a very personal thing, saying in essence that forgiveness must start with the man in prayer.
This IS NOT how most view this prayer and there seems to be more doctrinal effort dedicated to the question of what the Master means; that one should pray these words or use this as a model, than there is to the reality of just what we are Truly asking for and from whom. There are those who teach that the use of this prayer as these words presented by the Master can be counted among the “vain repetitions” that the Master speaks against and nothing could be further from the Truth; this view exhibits a lack of understanding of the Master’s intent as well as His final thoughts on prayer. Others see this as a Catholic prayer and refrain from using it because the Roman Catholics and perhaps like others use it and this is against the very nature of His words regarding this prayer. It IS unfortunate that the whole idea of prayer has become such a doctrinal thing which IS not pointed to anywhere in the New Testament. Today prayer is practiced by prayer groups and dedicated phone lines where one can call in for prayer and men are encouraged to pray aloud and in unison. In our view prayer should be that private thing that we discuss above; it should be done in secret and it should NOT be asking for substance nor intercession as the Master tells us that “your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him“. ALL of this IS ignored in common practice as IS the True premise of the Lord’s Prayer as an affirmation of the divinity of God and the God Within and a solicitation for universal GoodWill which should start in the heart of the man who prays.
The simple answer to ALL of the controversy regarding the Lord’s Prayer should be that since the Master offered this, we ought to use it and if we disagree with the idea that He meant for us to use the words, then we should use the model to establish an equally universal prayer that affirms the divinity of God and the God Within and solicits universal GoodWill toward ALL men. In the end this IS a participatory prayer as in properly using it one IS affirming His own intent to DO his own part as he himself affirms the divine nature of his own God Within as part and parcel of the more Cosmic idea of God; in this the man who sincerely prays is looking toward that time when the Will of God can be seen apparent in the Earth, an event that comes in the form of many individuals expressing that Will around the world. In this Will IS the sustenance for ALL, the daily bread of Life, and the Peace and the harmony that is found in the sense of Love and forgiveness of men in the world. In these ideas there can come a breaking down of the walls if illusion and glamour that afflict mankind; a breaking down of ALL barriers that men have themselves erected based in the illusions of Life in the world. It IS in mankind’s ability to see the Truth that ALL can be delivered from that evil which IS man’s focus upon the self and the interests of the self in the world. In this rather simplistic look at Life we should try to see that it IS in the combined effect of many aspirants and disciples that others can and will begin to see the greater Truths and the greater reality that Life lived according to the words of the Master is the True Life.
There is no magic in prayer and there is no consistent fulfillment of those things that are asked for in prayer and in studying the prayers as they are offered to us by the Master and His apostles we can likely see a greater part of the Truth that there is naught of worldly substance that is Truly given man in prayer.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect |
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.
Staying on the theme of Love we repeat again the sayings of the Apostle Paul that puts this Love into perspective.
But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:1-3,13 (New King James Version)Regardless of our daily theme, the underlying theme of our posts and of this entire blog is Love. In these words from Paul we should be able to see the overriding importance of Love in the Life of each of us. This is a common theme throughout the gospels and the other writings of the apostles and a theme that is not nearly understood. As in the ideas above from Sermon on the Mount and our comments on the affirmation that had been our Quote of the Day, these words from Paul impart a better understanding of the reality of Life, the Life of the True man as the Christ Within, the Soul, through a True understanding of the power and the purpose of Love and we should note here as well that this expression of Love IS the Will of God and this we should see clearly in the Truth that “God IS love” (1 John 4:8).
We repeat here what we said about these verses in a prior post: Today’s Quote of the Day from the Apostle Paul is his testimony to the power of Love. After speaking at length about the gifts of the Spirit that one should desire in order to be of service to the Lord, he says plainly that Love is a more excellent way. Love in the context of these verses is not the sentimental or affectionate kind that we ordinarily think of but rather benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men. This
