ON LOVE; PART DCCII
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “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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WHAT THEN IS LOVE? In a general sense love is 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.
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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
In the last essay we continued our discussion on the spiritual concept of grace. It IS our view that grace must be considered in the spiritual sense and the idea that the Good things from God are in any way material or carnal ARE merely the manipulations of men which ARE reflected in doctrines that are created in the absence of True spiritual understanding. When we speak of the Good things from God, we should see these in the way that the Apostle James presented this idea saying “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning“. We should remember that these words come directly after the apostles teaching on temptation, that it IS in resisting temptation that “he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him” (James 1:17, 12). We should be able to see the dividing line rather clearly here and understand that “Every good gift and every perfect gift” IS the grace of God and that this IS as well the “the crown of life“; and we should KNOW that these are the revelations and the realizations of divinity and NOT ordinary things of the Earth. And we learn this from the Master as well; His words on the “treasures in heaven” should clearly show us the spiritual Way, that it IS these that we must seek as aspirants and disciples of the Lord and NOT the “treasures upon earth” (Matthew 6:20, 19) which ARE contrary to the spiritual Life.
Seeking and gaining the “treasures upon earth” IS the way of men who live in and for the self in the world and this IS the vast majority of persons; and this IS the reality of sin from the perspective of the words of the Master and His apostles as we discussed in the last essays. We should understand that because of the doctrinal view of sin, the idea that sin IS ALL things that are contrary to one’s spiritual advancement IS NOT recognized as it IS presented here in this talk on treasure from the Master. Few understand that this IS His word and that this idea, as well as His words on that choice between God and mammon, lay out a part of His instructions, a part of the “things that I say” which form the basis for His rhetorical question “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). And we should add here that while these ideas of treasure and of mammon DO NOT refer only to the riches and the wealth of the world, concepts that are relative to the social status of any individual, they are largely ignored by most who DO see them in this limited way. The idea of treasure IS intended to cover whatsoever IS important to a man, whatsoever IS his focus; it IS what takes his attention and his time; and this should be seen in the reality of “treasures in heaven” where material things DO NOT exist. We should understand this as well from His telling us that “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21) and we should see the idea of mammon in much the same way. In mammon there IS a choice offered that IS much deeper that God versus riches and possession; there IS a choice of God versus the ways of the world as IS reflected in the Master’s words on treasure.
Again, while the common view of Jesus’ use of these words that ARE rendered as treasure and as mammon are thought to be ONLY riches and possessions, this sense has NOT detracted most of the Christian world from seeking after these things and, in some parts of the church, material riches and possessions are preached as one’s reward, one’s grace of you will, for believing after a certain doctrine or in accordance with one’s own giving….that he should then receive in abundance. But this IS NOT the reality that should be found in His words and this it IS this that IS clarified for us in James’ words above where we should understand men ARE tempted to the things of the world, they are tempted by riches and possession and by thoughts and attitudes of grandeur for themselves regarding such riches or social status or any variety of emotionally and mentally driven desires to stand out or stand above some other. It IS in this reality of sin versus righteousness, of giving in to the temptations or enduring them, of God versus mammon and of “treasures in heaven” versus “treasures upon earth“, that the apostle tells us that
“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. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:14-17).
We should see here the division between those things that tempt us from the world and the “Every good gift and every perfect gift” and understand that these latter ARE the grace of God and ARE NOT the things of the world; these are the realizations and revelations of the things of God in the Life of man, the Wisdom from above, which IS what the aspirant and the disciple should seek. There are many other places in the New Testament where this division IS apparent and the spiritual reality for us IS found in recognizing the depth of this separation. It IS difficult for us to understand that man’s spiritual Truth IS found in the totality of his focus upon the things of God; it IS evermore so for the average doctrinally focused man and even further from reality for the carnally focused man. This however IS the Master’s message and this IS the Truth behind the amplifying and clarifying words of His apostles which we read as:
- The Apostle John tells us: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:5).
- The Apostle James tells us: “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).
- The Apostle Paul tells us: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).
- The Apostle Paul also tells us: “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness” (1 Corinthians 3:19).
- The Apostle Peter tells us: “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4).
And so the idea of “Every good gift and every perfect gift“, that these ARE those that ARE “from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights“. These ARE grace and these are the reward for the focus of a man upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True, his focus upon the things of God. And while these ARE “free gifts” as Paul tells the Romans, there IS a requirement that a man seek them; this seeking IS in his striving and this striving results in his focus. And Paul tells us as well that we should “covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31); we should note that the word rendered as covet here should be seen in the better idea of pursuing and going after rather than mere desire for and, of course, we should NOT forget that the better way IS Love, that in the expression of Love as follows in the next chapter, one can find ALL grace.
ALL in ALL the idea of grace, as the revelations and the realizations of divinity, IS the product of keeping His words which we can achieve by our focus upon the things of God. In this sense of focus we choose God over mammon and we choose “treasures in heaven” to be our “treasure of the heart” and NOT the things of the world. In this we bring the Light of the Soul into the consciousness which had heretofore received its vision from the personality and it IS with this idea that we should see the Master’s words “If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23). In this it IS the ways and the things of the world that ARE darkness while “Every good gift and every perfect gift” IS Light and IS of God. In Paul’s words above we see his admonition to pursue grace and this IS something that ALL who strive toward His Kingdom will ordinarily DO; grace IS the result of such striving and of focus upon the things of God. We should note there that the fullness of the next several verses on Love, which IS the “more excellent way“, show us that if we DO NOT express the Love that comes to us as grace and as the ability to express this grace, that we have NOT accomplished aught. In this we should see that whatsoever gift one may see in his own Life, whatsoever grace that one can use, IS worthless in the absence of one’s expression of Love. In this we should try to understand that it IS for the purpose of our expression that we receive grace, that we receive the gifts or the rewards of our focus; and we should see here how that regardless of the how one IS using these perceived gifts in the world of men, that they must be expressed as the outflow of Love as the Master teaches us. Paul’s words on Love tell us:
“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” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3; New King James Version),
We should try to see here that in the absence of Love and one’s expression of Love, that speaking in tongues, or prophecy and even Wisdom and faith will have ONLY selfish purposes; Love IS the great equalizer. As we move back to the Apostle John’s rendering of the Master’s words from the fourteenth chapter of his Gospel, we should note how that the dual ideas of keeping His words and Love are hidden in His parabolic speech. First we must remember the Truer meaning of John’s words that tell us that the Master says “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do“; that this idea of believing on Him IS the same as the idea as keeping His words and this IS confirmed for us by common sense and by Vincent’s thoughts on the phrase believe on and believe in; both of these are from the same Greek words. In short Vincent tells us that to believe on Him IS to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life 4; this IS but part of Vincent’s full comments on this phrase which is found in its entirety in In the Words of Jesus part 1101. In the ideas that Vincent brings us we should see the ultimate of following Him and of DOING as He says and as He DOES; and in this we should see the sense of Love for the Master as we hold Him in such high esteem that we follow Him. Again this IS NOT that emotional and mental attraction and attachments of men whose focus is on themselves and the world; this Love IS according to the Truth of the first Great Commandment that we have above at the top of our essay. This IS of course a very deep saying which IS considered as impossible by some commentators but the reality remains: this Love is ALL consuming and in its Truth one MUST keep His words. This IS what we should take from the saying below which clearly says that our Love for Him is shown by keeping His commandments and the next Great Commandment IS that we Love our neighbor. Can we see the reality of His words here? that if we Love Him we MUST Love our neighbor and that this IS keeping His words and this IS how one can Truly believe on Him? Repeating our selection from John’s Gospel we have:
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:12-20).
In understanding the Master’s ideas here on Love, that to Love Him IS to keep His commandments which include our Love for ALL men, we can see the expression of Love which IS the fulfillment of His requirements for discipleship and for being accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God. It IS this fullness and ONLY this fullness that enables that degree of grace where “the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” can be a spiritual reality in any man’s Life. This IS what we must strive toward and this is the culmination of our journey here on this Earth; this IS the reality of that “faith as a mustard seed” (Matthew 17:20); this IS the Truth of one’s ability to “have faith and do not doubt” (Matthew 21:21) and to “not doubt in his heart” (Mark 11:23)…and these abilities ARE the fullness of the grace of the True disciple. In the Master’s words from John above we should sense that Jesus IS holding out the promise of these “greater works” for the man who can achieve this sense of KNOWING which comes in his ardent focus and in keeping His words; we should also see here that He IS offering this same promise to those who have NOT yet achieved this High Calling of True discipleship as He tells them that they should ask, that they should pray, even in His absence from them. We should understand here that this asking is according to the vision of Christ, in His name if you will, NOT the person of Jesus but the Truth of Christ as His Power permeates the whole world as the Love of God made manifest to men.
We should try to understand that this asking IS in the idea of prayer as that communion of the consciousness which IS focused on the things of God with the Soul, the Christ Within, from whom the Wisdom, the revelations and the realization, the grace of God, flows. This IS made clearer as the Master continues into His words about the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, which we will come to see as the activity of the Christ Within. In the Oneness of the Christ with God, of the Son with the Father, which Jesus speaks about earlier, we should have the deeper idea of that same relationship with Spirit and Soul. It IS this Oneness that we build by degree; it IS the fullness of this Oneness that brings us the “greater works” and it IS the striving toward this Oneness that IS the Life of the aspirant and the disciple in the world of men.
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.
We repeat here again a saying that is from the Bhagavad Gita, which goes well with our theme of the God Within, the Soul, which we see as the Christ Within and while this is good in the Christian world and is True based upon our understanding of the Christ as the manifestation of God, we should also see in these words below that it does not matter what these divine ideas are called; that it matters not what we call this Inner Man, that he is the same in ALL, he is the Soul.
Thou carriest within thee a sublime Friend whom thou knowest not. For God dwells in the inner part of every man, but few know how to find Him. The man who sacrifices his desires and his works to the Beings from whom the principles of everything stem, and by whom the Universe was formed, through this sacrifice attains perfection. For one who finds his happiness and joy within himself, and also his wisdom within himself is one with God. And, mark well, the soul which has found God is freed from rebirth and death, from old age and pain, and drinks the water of Immortality.—Bhagavad-Gita
It is difficult to tell just what verses of the Bhagavad Gita the above is from; whether it is a paraphrase or a combination. It is from the book “The Great Initiates” by Édouard Schuré which was originally published in French in 1889 and perhaps it is in the translation of the verses that they become hard to recognize. However, the sheer beauty of the presentation caught my attention and so I share it with you. The Path to the Kingdom is the same no matter what religion one professes.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
