ON LOVE; PART DCCCX
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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. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God
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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)
It IS in understanding the Master’s intent and the intent of His apostles concerning the dichotomy between the carnal and the spiritual, how that the reality that the focus of the man who seeks God must be upon the things of God, that we can come to see the greater Truths of sin and evil. In the realization that sin IS simply looking toward the things of the world as one’s source of comfort and Truth, we can come to the greater understanding of the plight of men in this world. This IS the teaching that we should glean from the many words and sayings of the New Testament….it IS the focus of one’s Life, it IS what IS important to a man and what he spends his attention on, that IS the paramount factor in the reality of salvation and in attaining the Kingdom of God. As we have ofttimes discussed, doctrines paint sin as the aberration that others commit in Life rather than to understand the deeper reality that the Apostle James shows us saying “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all“. When we can see that the context here IS Love and the “respect to persons” (James 2:10, 9) that so many men DO employ in their lives, we can better see the reality that it IS NOT the grossest and the meanest things that one can do that ARE sin but ALL things that ARE contrary to the Ways of God.
It IS in this view that we can see the reality that “the friendship of the world is enmity with God” and while most doctrines will not accede to this great Truth, the reality remains that this friendship, this familiar association and partaking in the attractions and the attachments to worldly persons and things as the one’s greater Life’s motivation, IS the greater reality of sin. It IS in this light that we should understand that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and try to see that it IS this “glory of God” that IS the goal of men albeit a goal that IS hidden behind the glamour and the illusions of Life in this world. It IS in this sense of dichotomy, this sense of the separation between the carnal and the divine, that the Apostle Paul offers us his words on the “fruit of the spirit” as that which the man who seeks God should express through his own Life in this world. And it IS in the apostle’s list of offenses that we should see the greater reality of sin; Paul tells us that “they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” and we should see that among his terms ARE many basic human failings and NOT ONLY the grossest and the meanest of offenses. The apostle tells us:
“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:16-21).
Here again we find the focus of the man in the world, the man who Truly seeks God IS the man who will “Walk in the Spirit“, he IS the man whose focus IS upon the things of God. It IS in this focus that the things of the flesh wane as one’s motivating impulse. Here we also have the dichotomy between the carnal and the spiritual….between “God and mammon” and a straightforward statement that “these are contrary the one to the other“. And we should understand that Paul’s words here ARE offered on the heels of a teaching on Love, on how that the reality of Love IS the reality of walking “in the Spirit” and that it IS Love that will allow men to resist the desire to “fulfil the lust of the flesh“; we read the apostle’s words saying “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). The deeper message here IS simply that when one can “love thy neighbour as thyself“, ALL other things ARE considered and the man who can walk in this Love IS the man who DOES “Walk in the Spirit“.
Our greater point today however IS the reality of sin as one’s conformance to the ways of the world; this IS a reality that IS NOT seen nor understood in most ALL doctrinal approaches to God. Perhaps it is based in the level of comfort that one can have when he sees himself as better than another in some spiritual way as he notes another’s shortcomings in Life, or the idea that one IS ever good enough in his own mind to attain the Kingdom of God. Regardless of the motivation to view sin as mostly the other guy’s problem, IS ever the reality of the Master’s own words that show us the dynamic result of keeping His words which IS the reality of focusing one’s Life on the things of God; it IS in this that we gain His Presence and it IS in this that we attain the Kingdom in which we realize His Presence. This IS the message from the fourteenth chapter that we repeat here again, the message of the Presence of the Christ in one’s Life and the message of the Presence of God as these come to the man who will keep His words. And it IS in the most basic ideas of Life and of God that we should see that this Presence IS the Presence as well of the Holy Spirit which becomes the expression of the man who has this Presence of God in His Life. While the Master paints this in ways that seemingly depict the Holy Spirit as a gift, we should understand that He IS a gift, a reward, that comes in the same way as the Presence of God which we read again as:
“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. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, 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. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).
It IS in the KEY to the Presence of God, the reality of Loving God which IS to keep His words, that the essence of His Presence IS realized in one’s Life. It IS this realization in the consciousness that IS the reality of walking “in the Spirit” and it IS in this that the “fruit of the Spirit” becomes the expression of the man in the world. Much confusion abounds regarding the idea which we read again in our current selection from John’s Gospel; the idea that Jesus sends the Holy Spirit which comes from the Father. It IS likely intentionally ambiguous as the former similar saying paints this differently saying “the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26). Can we see the difference here? Can we see how that in our current selection this IS framed as “when the Comforter is come , whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me“? In this we should get the sense of Jesus’ intentionally parabolic way of teaching this rather new dynamic to His Eleven….that there IS the very Spirit of God in the Presence of God and that this IS revealed to the man who will keep His words. While we can separate and divide the Trinity, there IS NO better understanding in this approach; it IS in the combination of ideas that ARE presented that our greater understanding IS found. It IS in the homogeneity of God that the Truth IS found; it IS in the reality that “God is Spirit” and that His Presence in one’s Life IS Spirit, that can show us that it IS our essential divinity, which IS revealed in keeping His words, that flows as the Love that IS Christ into the consciousness where the natural action of that Love IS the expression by the man of fruit of that Spirit which IS Love and IS Truth.
As this comes into one’s Life by measure, by the same measure with which one is focused upon the things of God, his realization of Truth grows and in this we should try to see how that it IS this “Spirit of truth” that becomes a man’s motivating force, replacing the ways of the flesh…the ways of the world. It IS this change of focus that leads a man to see the reality of Paul’s words saying “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh“. It IS in this measure of spiritual reality that we can achieve by our change of focus that becomes the way of the man and there IS NO mysterious dynamic at play in this….there IS ONLY the natural action of the ever shifting focus of the man as he moves toward the fullness of discipleship and the Kingdom of God. As we remember the Master’s words on how that we can KNOW the man of God, the man whose Life IS the expression of His Love, we find this same idea of fruit as Jesus tells us that it IS “by their fruits ye shall know them“; in this we should see that it IS by our fruits that we can be KNOWN as well. And this IS ALL the same fruit….the same fruit that we read of in the beginning of our current chapter from John’s Gospel where we see that ALL who abide in the Truth of the Master’s words realize His Presence and understand His words saying “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me” (John 15:4). And this IS the same fruit that IS produced in discipleship and it IS in the fullness of this discipleship that we should understand His words saying “Herein is my Father glorified , that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8) and, so that we can better see His Truth, that we should better see the dynamic relationship between one’s fruit and keeping His words, Jesus tells us “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
When we can relate ALL of these ideas on fruit, on keeping His words, on discipleship and on the Kingdom of God together, we can then see their synergy and better understand the reality of His Presence and the reality of “the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father“. ALL IS Spirit and it IS our expression of this “fruit of the Spirit” that IS the crowning glory of a man and his realization of his own divine nature. And what then IS it that we express as disciples? What IS it that we begin to express as aspirants to that High calling? Simply “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance“; these ARE the expression of the man who truly seeks God and it IS by this fruit that he can be KNOWN. We began today with the ideas that ARE contrary to this “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23) which, as we discuss above, ARE the ways of the flesh which ARE found in Life according to the ways of the world. Here again we should be aware that most of these ideas can be found in basic human nature and that it IS NOT these most basic Life thoughts and attitudes that ARE that are accounted by most men as sin. But this should NOT be True; what should be True is our understanding of the dynamic that if it IS NOT the things of God then it IS the things of the flesh and thereby sin. In Paul’s list that we repeated above there are many words that are intentionally obscured by translation and common understanding and we have dealt with some of these ideas in much detail in previous posts; much information can be found in In the Words of Jesus part 916 as regards to the sexual overtones assigned to Paul’s ideas by doctrine.
We also speak of these words used by Paul to define ”the works of the flesh” in greater detail in In the Words of Jesus part 253; part 606 has some detail and parts 750-751 offer a more complete view; in these essays we try to show the True intent of the apostle’s use of the Greek words that have been rendered in ways that DO NOT reflect their depth of meaning in common usage. Many of these ideas ARE common human emotional responses to Life in this world. And while some will believe that there are thoughts and ideas revealed to him that ARE both on this list and from God….this IS of course a non sequitur. The reality of Paul’s words should convey to us that the things that ARE of the flesh ARE, in their fullest meaning, NOT of the Spirit and that it IS ”the fruit of the spirit” ONLY that can come from above. It IS in our understanding of the ideas of sin and evil that we can come to see the greater realities of Life, that most ALL that men can DO ARE but the ways of men and while there may be differences in the severity of worldly action, the True gauge and measure IS found in Love. And we must ever consider the Master’s words below which show us that there IS a realization of sin and that it IS when men are made aware of their own shortcomings that those things that they DO take on a greater significance in one’s Life. And men today should NOT believe that they are free from this burden as the words of the Master, His apostles and ALL men of God down the ages have testified to the True nature of sin and the True nature of the ways of the world.
We repeat again our words from John’s Gospel which we have referenced throughout today’s essay:
“If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another” (John 15:10-17).
“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did , they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. But when the Comforter is come , whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: And ye also shall bear witness , because ye have been with me from the beginning” (John 15:18-27)
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.
Repeating a Quote of the Day from the past that has some significance in relation to what we are discussing here, that the Kingdom of God and therefore God is within us ALL and that it IS His Presence which a man realizes by measure as he begins his journey to the Kingdom of God. Here Lord Tennyson poetically tells us just how close God Truly IS and how it is that we touch Him
Speak to Him, thou, for He hears,
and Spirit with Spirit can meet
Closer is He than breathing,
and nearer than hands and feet.
(Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809–1892)
From the poem The Higher Pantheism which puts forth the authors spiritual belief. Whether we agree with him or not, the quote if spiritually perfect for all of Christianity as well as any other world religion.
The thought behind the idea above IS NOT unlike that which we have been carrying as our Quote of the Day for many essays; It IS in the closeness that Lord Tennyson shows us that we should see the idea that “God dwells in the inner part of every man” which we read in the previous Quote of the Day. For us this saying and the previous one show us the closeness of the spiritual self to the Father and then too the closeness of the spiritual self with the personality of man. Men may like to think of God as something outside and above but the reality, as we have seen in so many of the sayings of the Master, is that God is with us and in us and we need only to let ourselves be drawn and to focus upon Him. And, if we can use these words from the Gospel of Thomas here we can perhaps see much: “When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the children of the living Father“
