ON LOVE; PART DCCCVI
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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)
In the last essay we got back to our first selection from the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of John where we find the Master continuing in His discussion on the reality of the spiritual relationships between the disciple and Himself. For the Eleven this IS most practical knowledge that the Master IS imparting as He explains to them some of the inner dynamics of how such relationship works and how that their own spiritual reality IS ONLY found in their ability to keep His words and to Love. We KNOW from the dialogue of the previous chapter that there are at least some of these Eleven who DO NOT understand the deeper significance of what Jesus IS showing them and it IS their inability to understand that prompts the questions by Philip, Thomas and Judas. These questions ARE in regard to the singularity of person that the Master IS teaching them, a singleness of person and of purpose that IS buried deep within His words; it IS in Jesus words, words that are still NOT understood today, that we find the Father IN the Son and the Son IN the Father. It IS ONLY in this Unity that we can understand the Master’s idea that “the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” and the many other unifying themes that compliment His words saying “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). It IS in the reality of these Truths that the words that show us our own relationship with God ARE founded, words that must be intentionally drawn out and discerned from the volume of His words that paint our relationship for us in so many different ways.
It IS NOT that Jesus comes to live in the Life of the believer that IS to be discerned in this message although from a more carnal perspective this can be seen and understood, it IS rather the deeper aspects of the relationship that shows us that as the Father IS IN the Son and the Son IS IN the Father, so can both the Father and the Son, the very Presence of God, be revealed in the Life of the disciple and, by measure, the aspirant who will strive to keep His words. While this IS clearly the message of the fourteenth chapter, it IS neither clearly seen nor understood by many who yet supplant the Master’s intent with their own views that ARE based in the misinterpreted words of the Apostle Paul, words that tend to remove the required sense of personal responsibility for one’s own thoughts, attitudes and actions in this world of men. In the reality that the Truth IS ONLY realized as the grace of God in one’s Life we find a great conundrum that becomes a barrier to one’s realizations of the Truth and it IS in the words of Paul that we can see the reality of this. Men DO NOT see themselves as they ARE but as their various doctrines have painted them to be. The apostle tells us that “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). If the many many millions of men who see themselves with this spiritual discernment through the centuries actually had this ability to see, the world would be a very different place and it IS ONLY when men can come to understand the dichotomy between this idea of the “natural man” and the reality of the spiritual man that the Truth of spiritual Life will be seen.
As we discussed again in the last essay, the common understanding that one’s spiritual rewards can be and ARE of the things of the world IS a prime contributor to the human spiritual dilemma. Spiritual rewards ARE the grace of God, the free flowing revelations and realizations of the Presence of God in the Life of the man whose focus IS upon the things of God and, the moment that this focus IS turned again onto the self in the world, the reality of this grace ceases to flow. When we can see that this IS the message that the Master offers us in His words on the “treasure of the heart“, that it IS what IS the focus of one’s Life that takes his attention and that the idea if good and evil ARE NOT as they ARE perceived, we can then see through the carnal notions that have been attached to His words. Jesus tells us that “A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things” (Matthew 12:35) and in this we must take from His guidance the True meaning of this idea of good. While we should try to see the context of the Master’s message on good, we should also understand the division that He IS making as He tells the rich young man “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17). Here we see the spiritual nature of this idea of good as well as the lead that the Master offers us regarding the essential criteria of keeping His words and the words of God…..ALL of which ARE one. Who then would be the “good man“, the man who would have “good treasure of the heart“, but the man then who IS keeping His words? It IS through this prism of spiritual reality that we can discern the Truth and understand that it IS to the “good man” that such spiritual discernment comes and that it IS the “natural man” who IS the reality of the evil man when we can apply the proper construct to this word.
In this we should try to see what the Master tells us regarding the Presence of God; in this we should see that it IS to the man who keeps His words that this Presence, the realization of this Presence, comes and that this IS the realization in the heart, the consciousness of the man in the world, of the God and the Christ Within as the motivating force in his Life and the direction of his focus. And, as we break down the parabolic ideas that ARE presented in the light of His Presence, we come to see the reality that this Presence IS the Holy Spirit as the Power of the God and the Christ Within focused through the personality of the man in the world….this IS the ultimate reality of our Transformation. Like so much else from the Master’s words and the confirming and amplifying words of His apostles, this dichotomy between the carnal and the real IS rather clearly depicted albeit in words and phrases that require some degree of spiritual discernment to clearly see. This sense of discernment however IS NOT that total realization of Truth that comes to the disciple; this IS rather the ability to look past the carnal ways that impinges upon ones carnal sense and toward the Inner promptings to Truth that come from one’s own Soul, promptings that are difficult to hear over the clamor of Life in this world. Jesus offers us many words on this dichotomy, words that ARE taken out of their True context by the “natural man“, and none are so poignant as His words on this “treasure of the heart“; we read: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
Here the “natural man” has deemed Jesus words to reflect ONLY riches and wealth but by the very context we should see that the reality IS so much more, that this idea stretches to ALL things that can take a man’s focus…..the things of the world in thought and attitude or the spiritual things of the Kingdom of God. It IS in this context that we should see Jesus words on “God and mammon” as well, that in the Life of a man in the world he will be serving one or the other, and here again we should NOT be limited by the doctrinal ideas of what mammon IS. In the Master’s context of “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24) we should see mammon as ALL things that ARE NOT of God in a most spiritual sense. As we try to tie these ideas together we should be able to see that the “good man” IS the man who serves God, that the “good man” IS the man who finds his “treasures in heaven” and that the “good man” IS the man who will keep His words; it IS in the Presence of God that DOING so brings that allows for the reality of our spiritual discernment. And the Master is clear on this idea of His Presence as well, a clarity that must be found in the very beginnings of our ability to discern the Truths of His teachings; we read again:
“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).
And this IS the enduring message that we have been studying, a message that IS the cornerstone of ALL spiritual endeavor and ALL spiritual reality. It IS in this message of the way to the Presence of God that we can realize the fallacy of the common view of Life, that it IS of and in this world. It IS the common view that hides the Truth from men and it IS in this common view that men perceive the ultimate Truth of spiritual Life as whimsical fantasies rather than the crux of the Master’s teaching; in the common view the ultimate Truths remain as foolishness to the carnal mind of the “natural man” who cannot conceive of his own spiritual Life even against the backdrop of the Master’s own words of Truth. In our selection from the fifteenth chapter we have Jesus’ further explanation of these Truths to His disciples and through them to us; in these words on the vine and the branches we should be able to understand that it IS the vine that produces fruit through the work of the husbandman and that as branches that “abide in the vine“, that abide in His words, we ARE that fruit which IS the expression of our own spiritual reality in this world. In the picture that IS painted here we should see the deeper idea that the branch that IS NOT a part of the vine IS lost, it IS of no use in the production of fruit in this world but rather exists in its state of decay which we should see as the reality of the New Testament use of the idea of corruption. We read the Master’s words again saying:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 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. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 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” (John 15:1-12).
The carnal mind DOES NOT see this as we do, the carnal mind IS ever interpreting spiritual ideas according to the flesh and it IS in this sense the Jesus words “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” have been corrupted by those who see this asking as carnal things, carnal favor and carnal reward. The greater reality and the greater message IS found in the Master’s words saying “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 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“; it IS here that His words take us back the the reality of His Presence in one’s Life as well as the effect of that Presence which IS in our expression of Love through His words: the reality that we “bear much fruit“.
There IS much in the Master’s words and the words of His apostles that show us the division that we should see between the carnal and the spiritual, between the things of the self and the things of God, and while we have discussed these ideas several times, we will do so again as in these ideas of separation IS the strength needed for us to understand and to overcome the ways of the world. We close then with two thoughts that we will pick up again in the next essay:
- First, the idea that should be seen in the Master’s use of the idea of joy above can become much clearer when we understand the deeper intent of this word against the common English understanding of joy. Here it IS interesting to note that the Greek word charis, which IS grace, IS from the primary verb chairo which IS rendered as joy and if we can imagine this idea of joy in terms of grace, in terms of ALL things that come from God, we may see deeper into the Truth that the Master IS here offering us.
- Regarding the usually unseen dichotomy that IS painted for us in regard to the carnal and the spiritual, we should ponder on the realities that the apostles present us as they show us the more practical ideas attached to that choice of “God or mammon“; we read:
- 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).
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“
