ON LOVE; PART CMXXIX
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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).
Moving yet again has taken our attention away from the work at hand and placed it into the more mundane tasks of daily living. It is in our realization of the needed separation of the carnal from the spiritual that we can see the greater difficulty of attaining our True spiritual awakening. It is sore difficult to attain the single mindedness that the Apostle James shows us IS necessary when one lives in the midst his own world and his own worldly affairs. The reality IS as the Master tells us however as He says that men should “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
This is the greater reality of the Truth that Jesus teaches us as He tells us that “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light“: that to Truly come to Him IS to leave off of ALL concerns with the daily living that imprisons men, daily living that they deem necessary. And what IS His yoke but His own freedom from the ways of men and the ways of the world….ways that ARE NOT understood by men in His day nor today. It IS the essence of His teaching that we find evermore space in our lives for our walk with God and ever less for the mundane carnal Life that we seem to cherish. That men DO NOT see this Truth in Jesus’ words IS a result of the illusion and the glamour of Life in this world which IS the vanity that Paul tells us that ALL men ARE subjected to according to the Great and Awesome Plan of God.
It IS in this vanity, which Vincent explains to us as a man’s perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4, that imprisons men and this IS a vanity that deludes men as they DO NOT see through it into the heart of the words of the Master nor those of His apostles. Men DO NOT see the simple reality that James so pointedly shows us saying that men should be “doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22) and while we may quibble about the idea of hearing here, this IS but another distraction founded in that delusion that IS the reality of Paul’s use of the Greek Word mataoites. While the King James rendering IS vanity, this idea DOES NOT convey the depth that Vincent shows us nor can we find the Truth in such other ideas as frustration, futility, or the ‘curse of God‘ as other translations render the apostle’s idea.
And it IS in the simplicity of keeping His words that we take on His yoke which IS the Will of God. It IS in the simplicity of keeping His words that we find the Truth that He reveals saying that “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light“. It IS in the simplicity of keeping His words that we ARE released from this bondage that Paul shows us IS the expected end for men as they are freed from the vanity of Life in form. It IS in the completeness of the apostle’s words that we can see men’s journey trough Life and while ALL will be freed according to the Plan of God it IS the privilege of the man who will keep His words to see this Truth in his Life today.
As the apostle tells us that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20), he also tells us of our own individual journey to this glory as we find and accept the Truth of the adoption which IS our own Union with the Father; that adoption which IS the reality of the fullness of the Presence of God in one’s Life and one’s realization of the Truth of the Kingdom of God. It is these things, the Presence of God, the realization of the Kingdom and the KNOWING of the deepest Truths of Life that will come as a man Truly takes His yoke, takes His ways, upon himself which IS yet another view of one’s keeping His words. And this IS our Trifecta, the Presence of God and His Kingdom in one’s Life in the fullness of one’s revelations of Truth, a Truth that sets one free from the ways of men and of the world. Here again we present that reality of Life through keeping His words as Jesus Himself shows us; we read:
- “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).
- “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).
- “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).
When we can see this idea as His yoke we can see the whole of our journey more clearly and so long as men see this yoke as a burden or as the bondage through which they themselves suffer, the Truth will NOT be KNOWN. This IS His yoke: it IS what binds Him to the Father; and in our taking His yoke we too can be so bound to God. This IS the greater reality of the Truths that Jesus and His apostles teach us as they ALL show us how to have the Presence of God through keeping His words and while Paul clearly shows men how that “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2), most fail to see how that to be “in Christ Jesus” IS to take His yoke which IS to keep His words.
And what IS “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” but His words? It IS His words that ARE the True guide to Life, a guide that IS NOT found in the doctrines of religion. It IS ALL of His words that are reflected in His saying that “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63) and we should try to see here yet another saying that shows us the True dichotomy between the carnal and the spiritual.
In the great rush of the Christian world toward the idea of salvation as this IS interpreted by doctrines, the greater reality of keeping His words IS lost and this IS the essence of James’ words that we cite above. It IS in the reality of being “doers of the word” that the trap of illusion and glamour IS escaped; it IS in being “doers of the word” that men ARE NO longer deceived. And we should understand here that James’ reference IS to our own self delusion and NOT that inflicted by some unknown worldly force; this delusion IS the reality of men’s believing in their own idea of salvation while NOT being “doers of the word“.
It IS in the “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” that the Truth of Life IS found, a Truth that IS the Presence of God as a man’s realization of the revealed Truths of Life that Jesus shows us ARE the privilege of the man who will keep His words. This IS of course one’s realization of his own God and Christ Within which ARE ever ONE with the Lord and it IS in this realization that “the spirit that quickeneth” becomes the Life’ expression of the man in this world.
This IS the sense that we should take from the Master’s idea that we should take His yoke upon us: that we should also bind ourselves to God which IS to take leave of our carnal concerns and worldly issues as we become more like Him in expressing the Love and the Truth that IS God through our lives in this world. It IS in clarity of the Master’s words such as we have above showing us the Trifecta of our spiritual reality that the Truth IS found and when we use the apostles’ words to clarify and to amplify Jesus sayings rather that as stand alone scripture, we will better see the greater Truths that ARE hidden in such plain view. The Apostle Paul continues in His sayings on the reality of walking after the Spirit which IS to walk in “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus“; we read:
“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:3-8).
It IS in words like these from Paul that we should see the reality of that separation between the carnal and the spiritual as the guiding precept in the lives of those who would walk “not after the flesh, but after the Spirit“. It IS when men can see that in the completeness of this idea IS the reality of one’s own expression of the essence of the Master’s words which IS one’s own expression of Love as the Way of Life that we can see how that we Truly ARE “made me free from the law of sin and death“. As Paul shows us that “carnal mind is enmity against God” we should be able to see and to understand how that it IS the carnal minds of men that create and maintain their own sense of salvation.
It IS this creation of the carnal mind that becomes the delusion that binds men evermore to the ways of the world and to their ideas that they need NOT be “doers of the word“. That men DO NOT see that it IS the ways of world that ARE contrary to the Ways of God IS the result of the illusion and the glamour of Life and this IS James’ delusion and the Truth of that vanity that Paul goes on to show us in this same Eighth Chapter of His Epistle to the Romans. When we can see this reality that “the carnal mind is enmity against God” IS the same idea that IS offered to us by James saying “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), perhaps we can come to see the deeper reality of the Master’s own words on the treasures of one’s heart…..that “where your treasure is , there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21).
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.
GOODWILL IS
LOVE IN ACTION
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:12
If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: James 2:8
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Galatians 5:14
Our Quote of the Day is a stylized version of the footer that has been a part of this blog from the beginning. It is in a few words our motto and our slogan and as we have posted so many times, it is the method par excellence of bringing about a world in Peace and in Harmony. The words of the Master that accompany our motto here are the source for our understanding of GoodWill and our method of practice and the words of His apostles are their echo of the second part of the Greatest Commandment as enunciated by the Christ. Let us all strive to do our part for in so doing we are doing as the Master instructed; we are striving to enter at the strait gate into His Glorious Kingdom.
This idea of GoodWill takes on added meaning as we approach the third of the annual festivals this year. Beginning with the Festival of Easter which IS followed by the recent Festival of Wesak, the Festival of GoodWill IS the third and comes to us at the full moon of June, the Gemini full moon which IS on June 2, 2015. While there IS much symbolism in the full moon idea, the reality for us IS more simple and IS intended to show the relationships between the Christ and the Buddha and the Truth of Love and humanity. This festival IS alternately call the Christ Festival, the Festival of Humanity and World Invocation Day and it IS ALL of these qualities plus the unifying idea of GoodWill that should be seen flowing through the ideas behind it.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
