IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1244

ON LOVE; PART DCCCXXXIII

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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 continued our discussion on the dichotomy that exists between the things of the world and the things of God and we noted again how that this reality goes unseen and unrealized my most men including so many who deem themselves to be spiritually minded. The reality of this dichotomy IS apparent in so many of the Master’s sayings and in the words of His apostles yet men have ever found clever ways to cover this Truth in their own carnal thoughts regarding Life here in this world. In the Master’s words that tell us to “Take no thought for your life” we should find the culminating idea that begins with His words on the treasure that one would seek saying “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also“, and that continues through the most parabolic ideas embedded in His saying that “The light of the body is the eye“; the Master then offers us His most pointed words on “God and mammon” (Matthew 6:21, 22, 24, 25). ALL of these ideas point us away from the carnal and the worldly and point us to the things of God.

When treasure and mammon ARE seen ONLY in the ideas of wealth and possessions however the reality of His words becomes muddy and it IS this carnal interpretation of His words that obnubilates the basic Truth that this treasure IS whatsoever has become important to a man, whatsoever has his attention in the view of this dichotomy. Here there is personal choice of what one should spend his time and his attention on and the choice IS presented in a rather clear way that should show, by the way that His words ARE framed, that this treasure IS NOT wealth and possessions only; here the choice IS between “treasures upon earth” and “treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19, 20). In the view that there can be NO worldly “treasures in heaven” we should be able to understand the Master’s intent which IS that we seek the things of God and NOT the things of the world but this IS NOT how this IS viewed by the carnal man nor by the doctrines that he has espoused. John Gill shows us his doctrinal approach as he interprets Jesus’ words to say: lay up your earthly treasures in heaven; that is, put them into the hands of God in heaven; and this is done, by liberally communicating to the poor; by which means men “provide themselves bags which wax not old, and a treasure in heaven that faileth not” ⁸. Mr Gill goes on to explain further saying: This is the way to have worldly treasure secured from moth, rust, and thieves; for to lay it up in heaven with God, to give it to him, to his poor, to make use of it for his glory, is to lay it up in a place, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal ⁸.

Can we see here how that the very point of the Master’s words IS missed? He IS not saying that men should have such “treasures upon earth” and to give of them liberally as IS assumed by so many yet today. He IS rather saying that one should not accumulate such which idea we see in the lexicon’s definition of the Greek word thesaurizo; they offer us that this word means: to gather and lay up, to heap up, store up ². The idea here is found in the having and in the having we should see the seeking after and this IS what the Master would have us understand. The Apostle Luke renders Jesus’ thoughts here as “Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:33-34) and in this we should again see that the error IS in the having and, again, that in the having there IS generally one’s seeking. While this IS the first of the Master’s words in our group that shows the necessary separation between the carnal and the divine, the Truth IS ONLY seen when we can see that this treasure IS so much more than just the wealth and possessions.

Perhaps the deeper understanding can be found in the idea that if one DOES shed ALL that he possesses and DOES NOT seek after these worldly things, that this IS because he has found the total revelation of the Master’s closing words in this section according to Matthew which we read as “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). In this idea IS the ultimate of faith as this should be understood by men who Truly seek God; in these words we should see that whatsoever a man, a spiritual man who IS truly seeking the “kingdom of God, and his righteousness“, needs, this he will have. Here, in the Truth of our spiritual reality, this idea of needs IS NOT found in the things of the world but in the revelations and the realizations of Truth which can shatter the worldly illusions of this idea of need. While the Apostle Matthew ends the Master’s sayings on this dichotomy with these words, Luke places them before Jesus’ words on treasure and after the Master’s words on the most misunderstood idea of “Take no thought for your life” (Luke 12:22) and after the Parable of the Rich Fool which shows us the most temporal nature of the things of the world.

Regardless of the way that these ideas ARE framed by the writers, the basic reality remains; a reality that IS unseen and unrealized as we can see in Mr. Gills commentary above and in the general trend of Christian doctrine yet today. And much of the more dynamic problem IS found in the common ideas that ALL of these things ARE related to worldly goods. The deeper reality IS found in the most basic idea conveyed by the Master’s words on treasure and how that it IS treasure that can be in heaven and how that it IS good and evil treasure that can be in one’s heart. As we come to realize that the things of God ARE His grace, His Presence, which IS the revelations and the realization of the Truths and the mysteries of Life and of the Kingdom of God, and as we come to realize that this IS the Truth of the “treasures in heaven“, we can then better understand the reality of the idea that the Master presents as He tells us that the Holy Spirit IS the “Spirit of Truth“. It IS in the fullness of a man’s realization of the Presence of God which IS the “Spirit of Truth” that we can understand the depth of the things of God and see the reality of Jesus’ words saying: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come” (John 16:13).

It IS in the Presence of God in one’s conscious Life that one has this revelation and realization of Truth by measure and we should remember here that this Presence IS in ALL men and IS the Soul, the Christ and God Within. This goes unrealized in the Life of the man whose focus IS in the things of the world, the man whose focus is on the “treasures upon earth“. It IS this man whose thoughts are on such carnal things as his own way and his own welfare in this Earth and in this carnal view we find the opposing idea to Jesus admonishment that one should “Take no thought for your life“. It IS at the intersection of these spiritual ideas that the Truth IS found and it IS at this intersection that we can see the Power of the Master’s words and the difficulty that men face in finding the Truth of the Kingdom of God. In this we should try to see and to understand that it IS beyond the carnal thoughts of men to give up whatsoever they may have in this world and to NOT have one’s attention consumed by such matters as ARE presented by Life in this world. It IS at this intersection that we find the greater Truth of focus and the reality of the prompting of the Soul that gives men a glimpse of Truth; it IS at this intersection that we find the reality of Repentance and the beginning of one’s Transformation.

Without one’s change in focus that comes with his desire to heed the prompting of the Soul, there IS little to motivate the Truth of Love and there IS little to show a man the greater reality of the grace of God, the Presence of God, that comes to a man through such change in focus. We should understand here that this change IS the reality of keeping His words; not as words and commandments per se but rather as the impetus to spiritual Life that one’s focus upon the things of God will bring. It IS in this Repentance, this change of focus from the carnal to the spiritual, that IS the cause per force for a man to keep His words as in this focus there IS NO other way of living. Perhaps it IS His words that bring this reality to Life in some men, and for sure this IS the intent, but we must ever remember the intentional parabolic nature of Jesus’ teaching. While we CAN NOT KNOW that the misinterpretations of His words ARE a part of the Master’s vision or Plan, we DO KNOW that such misinterpretation exist and that from the perspective Jesus’ teaching to the Truly carnal man we DO have His words that tell us the nature of His parabolic speech:

“Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted , and I should heal them” (Matthew 13:13-15).

We should not think here that these words ARE intended for the Jews alone but we should rather see how that they are pertinent to ALL times and through ALL the centuries since Jesus was among us. And we should try to see how that these ideas reflect NOT ONLY upon those whose “heart is waxed gross” but to ALL people who DO NOT see the Truth and the intent of His words….to ALL those who interpret His words into carnally focused ideas. There are likely many ways in which a man can come to see that the things of the world ARE temporal and that the things of God ARE eternal and we can best understand this in the reality of the True man, the Soul, that IS the Truth of Life that has been “made subject to vanity” (Romans 8:20). There ARE many who can sense this Truth and see how that the temporal nature of the world of things IS the illusion in which one lives; this sensing comes to a man in the prompting of the Soul which IS the unction, the anointing, of which the Apostle John tells us saying “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (1 John 2:20).

The whole of the revelation and the realization that comes to men comes through this unction, this anointing, and it IS this seeing of the Truth in the consciousness of the man in the world that IS the Power by which one can be “transformed by the renewing of your mind“. A glimpse of Truth that IS accepted in a man’s consciousness that had heretofore been “conformed to this world” can be the beginning of that change in focus, that sense of Repentance, that results in that Transformation into the man who will keep His words and show forth “that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2). This IS the intersection where the carnal IS Transformed into the divine, where the mind and the emotions of the man in the world begin to take on the nature of the God and the Christ Within, and it IS in this that the Presence of God comes to be a reality in his Life. And this IS the intersection of ALL things spiritual as ALL ARE the same in nature; it IS here that one can KNOW the deeper Truths that the Presence of God brings into one’s Life in this world; it IS here that one IS on the Path to the Kingdom of God and it IS here that one becomes the disciple whose Path IS to the fullness of his realization of Truth. And the Master shows us the way to this Presence, a way that IS already KNOWN by the Inner man….and this IS that we keep His words; we read again:

“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:a 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. 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 14:15-24).

Here in the completeness of Jesus thought we have the reality that we already KNOW, that we already have the “Spirit of Truth” and that we already KNOW the deeper Truths of the Kingdom as He tells us “whither I go ye know, and the way ye know” (John 14:4). It IS the realization of these things that IS missing in the apostles as the Master speaks to them and it IS the realization of these things that IS missed in men today; this IS the realization which comes in the Presence of God which in turn comes to the man “that hath my commandments, and keepeth them“. Here, as we try to express above, we should understand that it IS NOT His words per se but rather as the impetus to spiritual Life tjat one’s focus upon the things of God will bring. This reality that we DO KNOW as the Inner man goes unseen by most of the doctrinal church but the reality IS in the Master’s words when they are viewed apart from the doctrines and the traditions of men. And this IS the same idea that we take from John in his words on the unction above and in his follow up words saying: “the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:27).

This anointing IS the “Spirit of Truth“, this anointing IS the Presence of God, and when we can understand that John IS writing to disciples, to men who have such conscious realizations of the Truth by measure, then we can understand that the relevance of this abiding IS as the apostle goes on to show us saying: “he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us” (1 John 3:24). It IS in ALL of these ideas, at the intersection of ALL things spiritual, that we find the True meaning of “Take no thought for your life” and the beginning of a man’s accomplishing of the precept of the first of the Great Commandments that we have again at the top of our essay. In this commandment IS the essence of this saying from the Master.

We leave these other words from the Gospel of John which we intended to discuss in this essay till the next:

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, 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. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:31-34).

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.

Live in joy, in love, even among those who hate.
Live in joy, in health, even among the afflicted.
Live in joy, in peace, even among the troubled.
Live in joy, without possessions.
Like the shining ones.

The winner sows hatred because the loser suffers.
Let go of winning and losing and find joy.
There is no fire like passion, no crime like hatred,
No sorrow like separation, no sickness like hunger,
And no joy like the joy of freedom.

Today’s Quote of the Day is from the Dhammapada (on JOY)⁵; a collection of the sayings of the Buddha. These words and ideas ARE much the same as those we discuss in our In the Words of Jesus essays. And what is this freedom but the release of our hearts and minds from loving this life in this world and attaining the Presence of God. This word Joy has many meanings as DOES the idea of Love, but in the context that it IS used here we should see the idea that Joy IS Love, Joy IS health, Joy IS peace and that Joy IS without the burdens placed on a man by the illusion and the glamour of the ways of the world. We should try to see that it IS the antithesis of these ideas in hate, in affliction and in troubles that ARE among the possessions of the carnal man, that ARE among the “evil treasure of his heart” (Luke 6:45) according to the Master.

And it IS in the second stanza above that we see the basic psychic ideas that can eliminate the harm caused by such “evil treasure” as a man looks past himself and at the welfare of others which IS the greater reality of Love as the Master teaches us. It IS in losing such possessions, losing such carnal thoughts and attitudes, that one can truly find the “joy of freedom“….this IS the Truth of deliverance.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts

• ² from New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• ⁵ The Dhammapada Translated by Thomas Byrom
• ⁸ Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com