ON LOVE; PART CMXXXII
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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).
We ended the last essay with some ideas regarding the Apostle Matthew’s version of the Master’s Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builder. Our view of these words shows Jesus’ straightforward continuation of His previous words regarding the Way to the Kingdom of God….that this IS reserved for the man “that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven“. As we discussed in the last post, men DO NOT see themselves in these words that show that it IS ONLY by keeping His words that one IS Truly accounted worthy of the Kingdom. Although Jesus paints His picture of the man who may prophesy, or heal or do other “wonderful works” and He tells us that this man IS NOT accounted worthy by these things but ONLY by DOING “the will of my Father which is in heaven“, men yet today DO NOT see how that they ARE among those to whom He speaks. It IS to this Truth that Jesus appends the parable.
It IS in the connection of these two seemingly diverse ideas that the Truth can be seen. When a man can see and realize that he IS NOT keeping His words as instructed by the Master, that He IS NOT DOING “the will of my Father which is in heaven“, he can then begin to understand the deeper point which is muddled and confounded by the doctrines of men. This IS the realization of the man who Truly seeks as he comes to understand how that ALL of the grace of God IS tied to keeping His words and that this grace IS the reward for so DOING. This IS NOT of course a reward that IS bestowed upon a man but rather it IS one’s realization of the Truth that comes by measure to the man who expresses Love, expresses agape, which IS the reality of keeping His words. Here again we come to our idea of the trifecta, the three senses of grace that ARE one’s spiritual reality; here again we see the trifold effect of keeping His words:
- “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).
- “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).
- “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).
These ARE ALL Jesus’ words and it IS in these three seemingly separate ideas that the fullness of one’s realization of the Truth will come. Here again we have the reality of the disciple as the man who KNOWS the Truth, we have the reality of the Kingdom of God as one’s realization of this Truth and we have the Presence of God which IS the essence of the fullness of that realization. And we should understand that ALL of these three, ALL aspects of this trifecta, ARE essentially the same. This IS the message that we should take from the parable as well as this IS the defining quality of the wise man: he IS the man who has ALL of these things in his Life here in this world because he “heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them“. This IS the crux of that freedom of which the Master speaks above; this IS one’s freedom from ALL of the thoughts, attitudes and actions that ARE tied to worldly living as the emphasis of one’s Life.
It IS perhaps the uncertainty of this sense of freedom that result in the many machinations that ARE the doctrines of men and it IS the unwillingness of men to see past their own carnal existence that blinds so many to the Truth. And again the greater reality of Jesus’ words and the deeper reality of the Way to the Kingdom of God IS found in the True sense of Love as the Master teaches us this through the simplicity of the Greek word agape. His ideas on agape, which we render as Love, ARE NOT without clear example and explanation yet men have missed His point for 2000 years as they place themselves and their carnal existence above the clarity of His words and the amplifying and clarifying words of His apostles.
In the simplicity of His words we find the essence of this freedom as the Truth, as KNOWING the Truth, which IS the privilege of the man who will “continue in my word” a we read above. And this freedom IS the essence of our deliverance which the Apostle Paul shows us saying that we “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). Here we should try to understand that the very nature of men’s lives here in this Earth IS that corruption of which Paul speaks and this idea IS presented to us in many ways by Jesus and His apostles. This then IS our deliverance: that we ARE freed from the “cares of this world” which “choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful” (Mark 4:19). We should try to see again that men DO NOT see themselves as being among those who are referenced in these words of this Parable of the Sower any more that they see themselves as being caught as unwise in the words of the Parable of the Wise and Foolish builders which we repeat again along with the version from the Apostle Luke’s Gospel; we read:
- “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew , and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:24-27).
- “Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great” (Luke 6:47-49).
We should see here how that the idea of hearing IS a part of the Master’s intent in these words from both apostles and we should KNOW that this IS NOT merely the entering of His words into one’s ear. ALL who heard in that day or in the days that followed and ALL who read and hear His words with some degree of understanding or consideration up till today ARE those who “heareth these sayings“. In this idea we should count most ALL men who claim themselves Christian and we should try to see how that most of these men KNOW, in the deeper parts of their conscious being, in their hearts if you will, the reality of His words but let them be “choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection” (Luke 8:14). It IS these “cares and riches and pleasures of this life” that ARE the elements of the corruption from which the man who will “continue in my word” IS freed by his own realization of the Truth.
We should remember that the Greek word eleutheroo IS used in both of these ideas and in this we should try to see the idea offered by Paul in the same terms of freedom that we have in Jesus words. That we “shall be delivered freed from the bondage of corruption” takes away the nebulous ideas that we have in the doctrinal use of deliverance and it can serve to put the apostle’s ideas onto the present state of a man. That doctrines have confounded the reality of deliverance and have made this into a rather nebulous idea that IS based in ideas that come from the doctrinal view itself IS unfortunate. Most men CAN NOT see past the doctrinal presentations of Jesus as the Soter, the Saviour of mankind, and CAN NOT relate this idea of being freed to the reality that it IS His words that save and deliver men from “the bondage of corruption“.
It IS in this regard that He IS “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) as He gives us that freedom, that deliverance, through keeping His words and we should understand here the deeper import of His words that we read above: that “the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me“. This IS the essential reality that we should try to see in Jesus words that lead up to the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders, that it IS His words that change men’s lives and it IS His words that deliver us from “the bondage of corruption” which IS our rather single-minded concern for our lives here in this world. While Matthew shows us the effect of His words in terms of the Will of God as He tells us that the Kingdom of God IS for those “that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven“, Luke shows us the same reality in terms more directly related to Jesus own words saying “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say ?” (Luke 6:46).
The essence of the synergy of these ideas IS shown to us as well in the little understood idea that Jesus presents to us saying “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). In this we should get the True understanding of the dynamic relationship between Father and Son and understand as well how that it IS this relationship which extends to everyman that IS the Truth of which Jesus speaks. While these ideas are obnubilated by the parabolic tone of Jesus’ words, those things which lead us to the revelations and realizations of this Truth IS clearly shown to us in the trifecta above and in so many of His words and the words of His apostles. For most ALL men it IS “the bondage of corruption” which holds them back from the Truth that frees men, the Truth that delivers them from being “choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life“.
The Apostle John shows us our own potential to glory as he tells us that “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17) and when we can see these words in conjuctions with the Master’s own words on the “greater works” that the man who keeps His words will DO, we can then see deeper into the Truth and glimpse the very purpose of our existence here in this world. Again, it IS the man who keeps His words that we should see in His saying that “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” (John 14:12). Here, regardless of the doctrinal ideas on the value of their sense of believing, there IS a great Truth that IS proven by the fact that NONE who DO NOT keep His words have such ability to DO such “greater works” or even those things that He Himself had done. And while many may believe that they have the several ability to DO this and that, that IS to prophesy or to heal or to DO other “wonderful works“, this idea IS adequately covered by the Master in those words from Matthew that lead up to our parable and which we cite in the last essay.
It IS only in the reality of His words that show that the Kingdom IS reserved for the man “that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven“, the man that DOES DO “the things which I say“, that we find our freedom and this IS the reality of our deliverance from “the bondage of corruption“. We close today with these words from the Apostle Peter who shows us in his terms the Way of the man who will keep His words which IS the man “that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven“; we read:
“Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us tob glory and virtue: 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 1:1-4)
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.
This Quote of the Day is the antithesis of glamour and illusion. In this mantram are the thoughts about ourselves and our brothers in the world that can diffuse these forces that hold a man in the world of things and prevent his spiritual progress.
Mantram of Unification
The sons of men are one and I am one with them.
I seek to love, not hate;
I seek to serve and not exact due service;
I seek to heal, not hurt.
Let pain bring due reward of light and love.
Let the Soul control the outer form, and life and all events,
And bring to light the love that underlies the happenings of the time.
Let vision come and insight.
Let the future stand revealed.
Let inner union demonstrate and outer cleavages be gone.
Let love prevail.
Let all men love.
The Mantram of Unification is a meditation and a prayer that at first affirms the unity of all men and the Brotherhood of Man based on the Fatherhood of God. The first stanza sets forth several truly Christian ideals in Unity, Love, Service and Healing. The second stanza is a invocation to the Lord and to our own Souls asking that from the pain (if there can truly be any) incurred in focusing on the Spirit and not the world will come Light and Love into our lives and that we begin to function as Souls through our conscious personalities. We ask that the spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes and also that the Love that we bring forth, individually and as a world group, can be seen by all and ultimately in all. Finally, in the last stanza we ask for those things that are needed for Love to abound. Vision and insight so that we can direct our attention properly; revelation of the future in the sense that all can see the Power of Love in the world; inner union so that we do not fall back into the world’s ways, that we faint not; and that a sense of separation, the antithesis of brotherhood, ends as we know it today. Let Love Prevail, Let All Men Love.spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes.
