ON LOVE; PART DCCLIX

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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 and in the several before it we have been including some of the words on Love from the Apostle John’s Epistle and we include these again below. As we have often said, it IS based in His manner of speaking in both his gospel and his epistles that has allowed the common ideas on both his intent and the intent of the Master to become such that they would apply to fellow Christians ONLY and NOT ALL men. That we should Love ALL men should be the clear message in Jesus words above in the Great Commandments where the second IS inseparable from the reality of Love for God, a Love which IS ONLY accomplished by keeping His words as we have been reading from the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John. As we have been discussing, the Master’s words and intent are undeniable; His sayings show us this reality as He says: “If a man love me, he will keep my words“, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” and “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:23, 21, 15). This idea of keeping His words should be the highest priority in the minds of men who profess Love for God yet so many allow the doctrines that dilute this idea to prevail in their thoughts, attitudes and actions. It IS based in these ideas that the Master promises the Presence of God and Christ in the lives of men and it IS here in this same idea that we should see the foundation for the operation of the Holy Spirit in the Life of any man.

While we see this clarity in the Master’s words, a deafening clarity that tells us that we must keep His words as our way of Loving God and attaining the Presence of God in our lives, doctrine has opted to see the diluted ideas founded in their own machinations. Many believe that they find safe harbor in the many delusions that are based in their reading of individual verses from the apostles’ writings and especially those of the Apostle Paul. This, plus the carryover of Jewish traditions, has caused the Christian world to look past the True teachings of the Master who tells us rather clearly that “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). This IS the reality of keeping His words and this IS the same criteria that Jesus places upon the idea of being His disciple, which IS in reality a disciple of God as the Father and the Son ARE essentially the same as we read in His words saying that “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). Here then we can see that keeping His words IS the precursor of discipleship, of being accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God and of having His Presence in one’s Life and here we should be able to see that ALL other ideas on salvation ARE the ideas of men and of the world. It IS based upon our view of the reality of the Master’s words that this blog IS founded and while much of what we say may be deemed heretical by others, this CAN NOT dissuade us from pursuing His Truths. And His words are rather clear to the man who can look away from the world and from his own carnal sense of doctrine and look into the Light of Truth in His words; a Truth that convicts every man who has NOT yet achieved the ability to say that I “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” as we read above in the Great Commandment and who CAN NOT Truly understand that this IS accomplished in the simplicity of His words that say “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“.

It IS this idea of accomplishment that IS brought out for us by Paul and the Apostle James as they speak about this precept. Paul tells us that to DO this, to “love thy neighbour as thyself“, IS to keep His words; and these ARE inseparable as we see in John’s words below which end with his perspective on this idea saying “he who loveth God love his brother also”. While Paul shows us the equivalence between keeping His words and Love for ALL, James shows us that this Love MUST apply to ALL men; that there can be NO preference of one over another but ONLY equanimity in this Love that IS largely undefined; this IS yet another reason why Love has been so elusive in the world of men. However, this lack of definition IS NOT the root cause; the root IS founded in the vanity, in the illusion and the glamour, of Life in this world where the self and those close to the self take on paramount importance; and in the ideas of worldly attraction and attachment that have been allowed to become the more common view of agape. But we ARE NOT left without a Truer understanding of this Love, an understanding that must be discerned from the totality of the words of the Master and His apostles; a discernment that can only be accomplish by those who look away from history and from the pronouncements of doctrines which ARE contrary to His Truth. It IS in the very nature of the Great Commandment and the reiteration by His apostles that we should be able to see the intended idea of who and how to Love; in the simple idea of “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” we have the reality that we should see ALL men as we see ourselves and accord to ALL men what we would accord to ourselves. This IS the Truer definition of Love as the Master teaches us…..none of the ideas of the common understanding of Love can be found in these words that say to “love thy neighbour as thyself” and this even in the most strict ideas of neighbor. And the Master DOES NOT leave us without other ways to discern His Truth on Love as He shows us how that we should Love ALL in many ways as we have been discussing; NO way however IS of greater moment than the Truth expressed in the Golden Rule.

This great Truth that IS expressed by the Master as “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” IS unfortunately seen in most restrictive terms by many and as in a reciprocal way by some. There IS NO hint of reciprocity in these words, there IS ONLY a further elucidation of the idea embedded in “love thy neighbour as thyself” and we should try to see the link here; that one’s Love for oneself IS the reality of “whatsoever ye would that men should do to you“. Perhaps it IS in the intentional use of parabolic language that causes men to miss Jesus’ points here but more likely it IS the weight of carnal Life and the difficulty in practicing His Truths that causes men to interpret His ideas in ways that offer the illusion of safe harbor. When we can apply the reality of Love for ALL and the Truth that this Love IS that we accord ALL men what we would accord for ourselves, we can see the deeper ideas and realities in His words and deeper Truths in the ideas that John presents to us saying:

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect , that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4:7-21).

In these ideas we should be able to see that if we can treat ALL men with the respect that we would reserve for ourselves we ARE in accord with the apostles words that we “love one another” and that this IS nothing but our own True expression of GoodWill. It IS in this that the words of the apostles are found; it IS in this Universal expression of GoodWill that we find the Truth of Paul’s words saying “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14) and it IS in this expression of GoodWill that we can realize the Truth of His saying that “therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10). In this IS the simplicity of Love and the Truth of Love as GoodWill which we have often defined as ‘Love in Action’. It IS in this idea of Love as our expression of GoodWill that we should also see James’ words “have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons” (James 2:1); in these words we should understand that these ideas ARE contrary, that to have such “respect of persons” IS not to “have not the faith of our Lord” which we should see as KNOWING God. Here IS yet another place where the idea of faith can be more clearly seen as KNOWING. In John’s words above, as in many of the ideas of the Master and His apostles, it IS difficult to place the common understanding of Love into a rational reading of His words as men will NOT have that emotional and mental attraction and attachment to ALL men, nor to ALL brothers nor for “one another” even in the strictest interpretation. The idea of GoodWill however will work and when this idea of GoodWill carries the Master’s intent, that this IS that we will accord ALL men what we would accord ourselves, ALL of these teaching take on a different and more rational sense and one that IS more easily achieved by the man who Truly seeks God.

So then we have the trilogy of Love: the Love of God, our Love for God and our Love for ALL men. While each of these has different meanings and applications in the Life of the man in the world, the same basic reality of GoodWill can be seen to resonate in ALL. The Love of God IS His grace, His Presence in the lives of men and this whether or not they can yet realize this Truth; we should remember that it IS God through Christ that IS “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:1-9). It IS the realization of this Presence that IS the grace of God to the man who keeps His words as IS clearly stated in Jesus’ words saying: “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). This IS our realization on an individual level of the Universal grace of God and the reality of the Apostle Peter’s saying that if IS in this global sense of grace that “are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises” and that it IS in our keeping His words that the realization of these come and “that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature“. And we should see Peter’s idea of keeping His words in the reality of his telling us the precursor of this realization which IS that we have “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). Can we see that this grace, this Presence of God, IS His Will to Good and that this IS the greater idea of Love in this context. We have then our Love for God which can be easily defined as keeping His words as we read in Jesus sayings that we have been studying; this too can be related to GoodWill from the perspective of the individual man in the world and, as the Master says and as the apostle’s confirm, our Love for God IS NOT possible without our keeping His words; in this we can see this idea of Love expressed as GoodWill to ALL men. This IS our own individual sense of the Will to Good and it IS in this second part of our trilogy of Love that we see the ultimate Truth of the third.

This IS the reality of Love and the Truth of how one can Truly “love thy neighbour as thyself“….this IS GoodWill. And it IS in this that we can see the deeper ideas of Love for God as it IS keeping His words, of which the reality of “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” IS of paramount importance. And this IS the Truth of John’s words above; this IS the reality of the apostles reiteration of the Master’s thoughts on the Presence of God as he says  “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us“; here IS the same Presence that Jesus promises to us saying “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” (John 14:21). Both express the reality of His Presence in the Life of the man who keeps His words. Much of John’s ideas here are misapplied and the ancillary ideas of confession and the misunderstood ideas of propitiation have been allowed to be seen as his emphasis; it IS unfortunate that this IS so as the apostle’s words can be a True guide to Love as GoodWill among men in this world. Here, if we could see the idea of confession as Vincent portrays this for us from a saying in Matthew’s Gospel, we could come to a better understanding of the whole of Jesus’ message to us. Mr. Vincent says:

Confess me ( ὁμολογήσει ἐν ἐμοὶ ); A peculiar but very significant expression. Lit., “Confess in me.” The idea is that of confessing Christ out of a state of oneness with him. “Abide in me, and being in me, confess me.” It implies identification of the confessor with the confessed, and thus takes confession out of the category of mere formal or verbal acknowledgment. “Not every one that saith unto me, ‘ Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.” The true confessor of Christ is one whose faith rests in him. Observe that this gives great force to the corresponding clause, in which Christ places himself in a similar relation with those whom he confesses. “I will confess in him.” It shall be as if I spoke abiding in him. “I in them and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me” (John 17:23) ⁴.

This IS the greater reality of confession as it should be understood in John’s words “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God” and this idea CAN NOT be separated from the Master’s words on His Presence as we see above and in His other saying that “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” (John 14:21).. Mr. Vincent makes these connections for us in more devotional and elegant terms but the underlying reality IS the same….that to confess the Lord IS to keep His words in the same way that to believe on or to believe in Him implies that we  accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life ⁴. This IS the reality of GoodWill which is the expression of ‘Love in Action’ by the man in the world and it IS in this view that we use these words as the banner for our blog posts: GoodWill IS Love in Action.

This idea of GoodWill is our segue then into its role in the world which should be our attention always and which IS significant today as this IS United Nations Day 2014. We would be remiss if we did not make mention of this as we have in years past and, in honor of this day and this Unifying World Organization, we repeat the Values to Live By sayings that we have previously tied to this day. These words ARE GoodWill and these words ARE ‘Love in Action’.

Values to Live By

A Love of Truth—essential
for a just, inclusive and progressive society;

A Sense of Justice—recognition
of the rights and needs, of all.

Spirit of Cooperation—based
on active goodwill and the principle of right human
relationships;

A Sense of Personal Responsibility—for
group, community and national affairs;

Serving the Common Good— through
the sacrifice of selfishness. Only what is good for all
is good for each one.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

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.

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