IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1115

ON LOVE; PART DCCIV

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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 idea of grace from the perspective of some doctrine; that grace can be the things of the world and the result of one’s prayer for such things, and we should note here how that this IS tied to the belief that ‘persons of faith‘, as this IS defined by the various doctrines, ARE the recipients of such grace in their daily lives. We have laid out the words of the Master and His apostles that should clearly tell us that whatsoever we deem as being from God, grace if you will, IS per force spiritual as there IS NO thing carnal to be found in what can come into a man’s Life from above. The Apostle James tells us that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17) and we should understand that there IS NO thing corrupt from God. We should see this reality in the Master’s words on the “treasures upon earth“, that the things of the Earth ARE corrupted by the mere fact that they ARE NOT spiritual. Here, while doctrine sees the “moth and rust” in a most literal sense, we should understand the True meaning of His saying that we should “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal” (Matthew 6:19). We should see here how that this “moth and rust” ARE but symbolic of the ways of the world which renders the things of the world to be of NO spiritual value and we should try to understand the like symbology in the idea that “thieves break through and steal“; here we can see the temporal nature of the things of the world and how that they DO NOT Truly belong to the possessor.

Jesus makes this last point for us again in the Parable of the Rich Fool where we read that “God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” (Luke 12:20). In this IS the reality of the temporal nature of one’s ownership of anything of the world and this idea should be understood to include so much more than possessions and things as we can see clearly in this from the Book of Ecclesiastes: “As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand. And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?” (Ecclesiastes 5:15-16). Here the greater point IS found in the second part, in the reality that “as he came, so shall he go” and this IS of course as a Soul, a divine being, who can take naught but what spiritual collateral that he may have garnered which IS the greater reality of his ability to express his own measure of grace in the world. This expression IS his fruit, it IS whatsoever he was able to leave for the further progress of his brothers and we should try to see this in the Master’s words saying: “he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matthew 13:23) as He further explains the Parable of the Sower to His disciples. This “good ground” IS the aspirant and the disciple and the True seeker for the things of God; it IS this man that produces spiritual fruit which can be taken up by the world of men to their own spiritual benefit; this IS the very nature of discipleship and this IS the point of the Master’s words saying “Herein is my Father glorified , that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8).

In this these ideas plus those of the last few essays, we should have a clearer picture of the Truth of grace as it effects the man in the world and understand that grace IS those revelations and realizations that come into one’s consciousness from God through his own Soul, from his own God and Christ Within. Grace IS the effectiveness of divinity in the world of men and NOT any such thing that IS of the world, a world which IS contrary to and in opposition ALL that IS divine. It IS in this idea of grace that the man in the world gains the ability to express his spiritual nature which IS the essential content of these revelations and realizations; it IS this that can be see as the reality of that Wisdom from above that James tells us of; first in his saying that we should ask for this Wisdom and then how that we can KNOW that what we are believing to be such actually IS. We read: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord” (James 1:5-7). Here we should understand the same idea of asking as we see in our current selection from the Gospel of John below and perhaps here we can see a greater understanding of the idea in Jesus instruction to “ask in my name“. 

“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).

James tells us that our asking must be directed to God and that it must be addressed in a way that we are certain, that we KNOW that we will receive….this IS the reality of asking in faith. And this idea should be understood as it IS offered; that if the man who IS asking IS betwixt and between a focus upon the things of God and his carnal life, he will NOT receive; it IS for the man who has committed himself to the Way of the Lord who benefits in this asking and we should try to see here the idea of degree…that the degree of focus upon and striving toward the things of God will result in a like degree of Wisdom as a man asks for. These ideas are relative and the greater one’s focus the greater the asking for more. And so the same for the reality of asking “in my name” as the Master presents this; as we pointed to in the last essay, the Master shows Himself and God to be the same and in these ideas of Oneness we ask God. We understand “in my name” as the idea this IS intended to convey, that this IS the reality of what IS represented by His Name. We should try to see the parabolic reality that IS being built here for the disciples own understanding of the depth of these ideas. Again, this reality IS found between Jesus’ words that “I am in the Father, and the Father in me“? and the reality of the idea of “If ye love me, keep my commandments“. This idea of the Oneness of the Father and the Son IS made more real as He tells us that the “words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works” (John 14:10)? And it IS then brought to a personal level in His promise to His disciples that they can DO yet “greater works“. And should we not see that this sense of Oneness IS a part of these “greater works“? And we should not forget that He tells us that these “greater works” are the grace, the reward, to the man who “believeth on me” which MUST be seen in the context of keeping His words.

In this ALL we should remember that James’ words were that the man who asks must ask in “ask in faith, nothing wavering“; this IS the asking of the disciple and NOT of the ordinary man in the world and while we can extend this to the aspirant we should be sure to understand Jesus point here on Love and that this IS ONLY Truly Love if one DOES keep His words or IS striving to DO so. We should understand here as well that it IS ONLY the man who strives to keep His words that can understand and  Truly have that sense of faith that would leave “nothing wavering“. And this IS ALL the product of grace; it IS the Truths that enter into our consciousness as grace that allow for the Truth of faith which IS our functional use of faith in this world. As Souls we are possessed of ALL faith and ALL KNOWING; there IS NO thing lacking except our ability to KNOW this faith and this KNOWING as men in the world and then to express it. This IS ever the problem of men, Souls that ARE “made subject to vanity” by the Plan of God and who must fight through this “bondage of corruption“; Souls that must force that change in focus which comes in Repentance and then the steadfast striving toward the goal of the Kingdom of God and True Discipleship where one can KNOW the Truth of these “greater works” as he IS “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21).

ALL of these things work together and ALL are the both the grace and the result of that grace in the Life of the man in the world; it IS through this steady stream of realization and revelation that the aspirant becomes the disciple and the disciple becomes perfected. It IS the work of the aspirant and the disciple to make this grace available in his Life in this world in ever increasing measure and it IS here that James offers the cautions regarding the idea of Wisdom from above, cautions on how to rightly discern that what appears to be Truth, to be grace in one’s Life, actually IS; we read: “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” (James 3:13-17). We spent much time on these words in In the Words of Jesus parts 323-331 and in 1003-1004 and it IS not our purpose to reprise these ideas again save to say that James offers us the way to KNOW, the way to rightly discern the reality of and the source of what IS entering our consciousness as though it were Truth.

We have tied these ideas together in an effort to make it clear that asking and receiving ARE NOT an automatic thing and that much of what one may believe to be in response to asking God, IS in reality from one’s own personality in the world, devoid of True grace and possessed of ideas and thoughts for the self in the world. Our own approach to this dynamic in human thought is simple and straightforward and simply divides ALL ideas by means that can be interpreted as that they ARE of benefit to the self OR that can be KNOWN as Truly in regard tot he things of God. We should understand that even in this approach however there can be many things that can deceive as what can benefit the self can be psychological as well as material and in some places there IS a fine line to be interpreted. Overall, this dynamic IS NOT a problem except for the aspirant and the fledgling disciple because as one grows in discipleship his course in Life DOES make the necessary changes in perspective which can help to alleviate any such confusion.

In these ideas we should try to see that some of what may be seen as grace, as revelation and realization, IS NOT; it IS the product of one’s own personality in the world and it IS here that we should see James’ idea that one must “ask in faith, nothing wavering” and why the Master tells us in His more parabolic style that we must “ask in my name” which IS to ask in the reality and the Oneness of the Godhead. And it IS this reality and Oneness that IS Jesus teaching here in the fourteenth chapter of John’s Gospel, a Oneness that IS further revealed as we go further into His words in this and the succeeding chapters. We should try to see here that up to this time the disciples have the Master and that it IS in His departure that He if telling them these things; telling them of their abiding with Him, their being in His Presence, as we discussed in the earlier verses where He begins to show them this Oneness saying “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). There are few that have trouble with this idea of Oneness between the Master and the Father but at the same time there ARE few that understand that this Oneness IS NOT in regard to Jesus; it IS rather the God and the Christ Within Jesus; the Spirit and the Soul which ARE the Father and the Son. The man Jesus IS the means of expression for this divine nature and it IS here that we should begin to see how that the Master draws these ideas down to the level of the man in the world. And this divine expression IS also given a name which IS the Comforter, the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Truth.

We must remember that these ideas are offered in parables and that at the same time as this idea of Oneness IS held out for our view, it IS NOT explained for our easy understanding; this IS an understanding that comes by grace. We close again today in the same place that we closed the last post…..we close as we approach the Master’s teaching on the Holy Spirit which IS largely misunderstood in doctrines as IS the nature of the man Jesus. And it IS for this reason that the Master brings these ideas down to the level of man in the world, the man that can DO as He did which He tells us as: “the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do“. If we can see the idea of His Oneness as a part of these “greater works” we can see much and we can come to understand that this ability to see IS grace; the realization and the revelation of our own divine nature.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

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!