ON LOVE; PART CMXVI
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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).
Before we begin to day we should announce our new writing effort on Hub Pages. We will be sharing our writing time between our own blog and this new effort. You can find our Hub essays at hubpages.com by entering R A Bartole into the search bar. The topics will of course be similar as we have only one objective in writing: to show the Truth of the Master’s words and to discuss His instructions and His intentions without the boundaries erected by the doctrines of the world.
In our last essay we continued with our discussion regarding the way that men believe that they ARE in the Will of God while they ARE yet entrenched in worldly living and the “cares and riches and pleasures of this life“. We should understand here that ALL men ARE shown the ways of the world by the nurturing that they receive and the experience that they gain and this includes most of those men who DO believe that they ARE in His will, that they ARE saints, and that they ARE His disciples. There should be NO doubt however as to Jesus’ intent when it comes to this idea of disciple. The Master IS very specific regarding discipleship and while this IS watered down by doctrines and the interpretations of men, the reality IS clearly stated in His words.
We should note two things here on the idea of discipleship; there ARE three realities to consider. First there IS Jesus’ words in the Gospel of John that show us the idea of the True disciple; the Master says “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). Here, in the word rendered as indeed, we should see the alternate idea of truly or of a truth as the lexicon shows us and we should note here as well how that there IS a cost for this sense of True discipleship which IS that one keep His words which He frames for us here as DOING so in a continual fashion. Second IS the stark reality that we find in His words according to Luke, words that should show us the utter completeness of one’s keeping His words; we read:
“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27, 35).
We have discussed these ideas several times and especially the idea of hate as the apostle uses this Greek word miseo, and while the only rendering of this word into English IS as hate, the reality IS much different that the common understanding of the English word. By using the Apostle Matthew’s ideas regarding this same topic we find the idea of to Love less in regard to miseo and this IS accepted by many commentators and interpreters as well. In this regard it IS illogical and contrary to Jesus’ overall teachings that men should hate anyone let alone those who ARE closest to him. The greater point of discipleship however IS in the final verse which comes after the Master’s parabolic analogies regarding the cost of discipleship; a cost that He shows us in the first two verses and which IS summarized in the final verse where men must forsake ALL. This IS the reality of discipleship and while commentaries DO seem to support the fullness of this Truth, there IS little recognition of this Truth in realities of doctrines that call men disciples who DO NOT first keep His words and, second, DO NOT DO so in the completeness of forsaking.
And there IS a third point here that we must come to understand and that IS that the same cost, the same DOING as a man in this world, the same keeping His words, that brings to a man the state of True discipleship also brings Him the Presence of God and the Kingdom of God. This IS our trifecta which IS the three ideas of reward which come to a man who will keep His words. Here again we should see the greater Truth: if it IS the same DOING on the part of the man which results in this trifecta, then each of the included ideas ARE essentially one and the same….and to attain one of these IS to attain them ALL. And ALL of this IS clearly stated by Jesus; ALL of this IS in His words, but the ideas ARE diluted and changed by the doctrines of men. As we have been reading in most every post for some time now, we have the Master’s words on the Presence of God and, while He frames this in terms of manifesting Himself and as the Father and the Son making their abode with a man, there IS NO other conclusion other than this IS the Presence of God in one’s Life. We read His words 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 we should understand the full context of the Master’s words here as these follow upon His words on the Holy Spirit and then continue back to the same. Here while doctrines have created a separate entity of sorts, the reality of the Holy Spirit, the Spirt of Truth, IS this very same Presence of God whom the Master tells us clearly IS Spirit. Here in the rendering of Jesus words according to most translations we find the idea that “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24) and this IS in itself misleading as it implies a sense of separation. And while many translations DO render this as “God is Spirit“, the sense of separation seems to persist. Can we understand the Point here? Can we see how that the Presence of God IS a spiritual Presence and that this IS the Holy Spirit. We should note here as well that this Presence of God as the Holy Spirit comes to a man as part of the trifecta, part of the promise and the reward for keeping His words. Here we read Jesus words as: “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” (John 14:15).
The connection here between keeping His words and the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, IS not generally seen through the parabolic tone to Jesus’ words and this IS the same theme that continues into our sayings above on the Presence of God. Perhaps is IS in the idea that Jesus offers as “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter” that confounds many; however, when we can see the idea of pray as simply asking and understand that the Masters words here ARE ALL about His Presence in one’s Life, we can then see through the parabolic tone and understand the nature of one’s revelation and realization of these Truths; Truths which ARE among the mysteries and which ARE only seen by the man who DOES keep HIS words….this IS the great KEY to ALL spiritual reality. And we can see the parabolic ideas unfurling as we read through these chapters from the Supper to His arrest as a single thought that IS continually expanded upon. We should see here as well how that the Master includes Himself as He DOES in His words above saying “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (John 14:18).
The deeper meaning of this idea can be clear to us as we read His words as a single thought rather that the doctrinal view of separate sayings. Most see this idea of “I will come to you” in regard to the resurrection rather than in the flow of the Master’s words which paints a picture of the Presence of God coming to the man who will keep His words. Such IS our view of the Presence of God in one’s Life….that this IS the reward, the wages, of keeping His words. When we can see the reality of this reciprocal action in one’s own Life, we can then better see and understand how that our spiritual reality IS in our own hands. In this sense we should see the idea of the quid pro quo, the giving and receiving, by which a man can realize his greater spiritual accomplishment in this Life.
And this sense of reward IS apparent in the Master’s words in each part of what we have been calling the trifecta, the threefold reward that comes to the man who will keep His words. That men DO NOT clearly see this IS the fault of those doctrines that tell them that they need NOT DO anything, that it IS the free grace of God that comes to the man who will attest and affirm his belief in Jesus as Lord. These doctrines which ARE based in the out of context words of the Apostle Paul have been made to supersede the words that we have from the Master, words that DO NOT fail in their clarity. This is the result of the illusion and the glamour of Life here in this Earth and it IS this that must be overcome by the aspirant and the disciple.
We have above the reality of this quid pro quo in the first two parts of the trifecta: first there IS being His “disciples indeed” which reality comes to the man who will “continue in my word” as Jesus tells us above and second there IS the Presence of God in one’s Life that IS the result and the reward for the man that “hath my commandments, and keepeth them“. Finally we have the Master’s words on attaining the Kingdom of God; this IS the third part of the tirfecta. Here, in the tone of Jesus words we have that straight forward idea expressed by the Master which shows the Way to the Kingdom and the reality of the deluded man who may believe that he has the KEY but DOES NOT. As we have discussed, the Apostle Luke DOES NOT show us this idea in the same way that Matthew DOES but rather offers us the most simple rhetorical question from the Master; a question that should cause ALL men to search their own hearts as He says “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). Here again we have a straightforward statement that shows that men CAN NOT merely address the Master as Lord without keeping His words and while doctrines DO NOT carry the force of His words here they also DO NOT see the force of His ideas from Matthew’s version of this which we read again as:
“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. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21-23).
The point of both of these IS the same; that a man must keep His words to find that spiritual reality which IS the Kingdom of God. Matthew goes about spelling out the Master’s ideas on how that men will DO things that they may believe are according to His words but that they will NOT keep His words which IS the reality of “ye that work iniquity“. While many may think that this IS in reference to sin and evil as this IS commonly understood, the reality IS found in the idea that “ye that work iniquity” IS in regard to the man who DOES NOT “doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven“. This IS the simplicity of it ALL and this IS what one IS encouraged to discover by the simplicity of the Master’s rhetorical question; and we should remember that each of these sayings precede the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders in their respective gospels.
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.
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 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 5 The Dhammapada Translated by Thomas Byrom
