ON LOVE; PART CMXXXIX

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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 the Apostle Paul’ s words from his Epistle to the Galatians. While we generally use the apostle’s ideas there for their value in showing us what IS the “fruit of the spirit“, that IS, what a man can express in this world that can be seen as the product of his spiritual realizations, as well as those things that ARE contrary to this fruit, we ARE at this today looking to show how Paul reflects the same ideas that we have been discussing from our selection from the Apostle Peter. Peter speaks to us about those things that flow in the “knowledge of God“, those things that make men who “have obtained a like precious faith” become “partakers of the divine nature“; he shows us how that this faith, this KNOWING, IS to be used. It IS in the idea of supplying, which we should see as DOING, that we find the greater Truth of His words that tell us to have and to express such virtues as ARE in his list.  The King James Bible offers us this rendering of Peter’s words which we list with our comments from a previous post: virtue, which we should see AS goodness or as the activity of keeping His words, and knowledge and temperance and patience and, brotherly kindness, which IS from the Greek philadelphia and IS generally understood as Love, and charity which IS from agape which IS Love….and of course godliness.

In this we see the idea of brotherly Love which, while this IS a noble expression, DOES NOT show the emphasis that we see in Jesus’ own words on Love and this IS especially True when the final idea of Love IS rendered as charity and when it IS understood in the common way rather than as we see it in our definition of Love that we have again at the top of our essay. It IS in the way that the Revised Version (RV) renders Peter’s words that we find a greater degree of Truth; first in the idea of supplying in as opposed to adding to as the King James shows us and second in the compound idea of Love which the RV shows us as “love of the brethren” and Love in general as well. It IS the general sense of Love as agape that IS the Master’s intent and it IS this sense of Love that Peter is presenting. We read Peter’s words from the Revised Version again:

“Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and virtue; whereby he hath granted unto us his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust. Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge; and in your knowledge temperance; and in your temperance patience; and in your patience godliness; and in your godliness love of the brethren; and in your love of the brethren love. For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he that lacketh these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins. Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble: for thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1-11). **

It IS in one’s expression of these virtues that one IS as well expressing what Paul calls the “fruit of the spirit“; there IS NO difference between Peter’s ideas above and Paul’s who tells us that the man of “like precious faith” will have such fruit in his Life as: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance“….that these will be his expression to the world of men. And while Peter’s words offer us a rather blanket statement about the reality of those things that ARE contrary to the virtues, that these ARE “the corruption that is in the world by lust“, Paul offers us a list of these things albeit a list that IS NOT properly rendered from the Greek. It IS in the way that men interpret the idea of corruption as this IS used by both apostles that they fail to see and to understand the reality of Paul’s words that show us what ARE “the works of the flesh“. The works of the flesh ARE just that….they ARE the thoughts, the attitudes and the actions of men whensoever these ARE NOT in accord with the Master’s words and in this we should see EVERY thought, EVERY attitude and EVERY action that has the self in this world or the things of this world at or even near its center. we read Paul’s words to the Galatians again:

“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:17-24).

It IS in this idea of flesh versus Spirit, which IS the same as Jesus’ ideas on “God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24), and yet another place where the dichotomy between the carnal and the spiritual can be seen in the apostles’ writings, that we have the crux of Paul’s argument. Here again we find that sense of illusion and glamour, here again we have men’s ideas regarding themselves: that they ARE NOT among those to whom the apostle says that “they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God“. The reality of “works of the flesh” being that “corruption that is in the world by lust” can be more clearly seen in Paul’s words from the next chapter of his Epistle to the Galatians which we read as: “he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8).

If we can rightly measure Paul’s words we can see how that this idea of corruption IS the way of men in this world and when we view his list of those things that one would sow, “the works of the flesh” if you will, and understand their True meaning, we could then more clearly see the whole of the message of the Master and His apostles. And the deeper reality of Paul’s words here IS found in the previous verse that tells us “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:9). Here, if we can see the Apostle James’ words on deception as he tells us to “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22), relate this DOING to one’s sowing and relate Paul’s list of the “fruit of the spirit” to this DOING as well, we can then better understand the Master’s teaching that to keep His words IS the way to our idea of that trifecta of spiritual reality. In this we can better understand as well that this IS, by keeping His words, the Way that we “become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust” as we have been reading in Peter’s words. We repeat Jesus’ words on this trifecta again:

• “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).

It IS in the reality of Jesus’ words here saying that we should “continue in my word“, that we should “doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” and that we should simply “hath my commandments, and keepeth them”, that men can express the “fruit of the spirit“; it IS this man who will demonstrate “like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God“. And it IS in this Way that men DO NOT DO “the works of the flesh” and the way that men DO NOT partake in “the corruption that is in the world by lust“. This IS the simplicity of the message of the Ages and this ALL begins with that striving that we discussed in the last essay. For a man to to struggle vigorously, as in opposition or resistance ⁷ as the dictionary defines strive and for him to understand that this opposition or resistance IS against one’s own carnal self, IS to see the Path more clearly and glimpse the greater Truth.

While doctrines may not see this reality in Jesus’ words and while they may deflect one’s responsibility through their constructed interpretations of the words of Paul, the Truth ever remains….even in the apostle’s words which we read above that tell us the clear difference between the carnal and the spiritual. The Truth of ALL comes in one’s realization that the “the works of the flesh” ARE NOT ONLY the evil things, that they ARE NOT ONLY the malicious and sinful thoughts, attitudes and actions of men. It IS in this Truth of Life that one can come to see that ALL things that ARE NOT spiritual ARE carnal; ALL that IS NOT of God and focused upon the things of God IS mammon and IS of that “treasures upon earth” of which the Master speaks. It IS this sense of treasure, this sense of the focus of the thoughts and the attitudes of a man, that determines the very nature of his place upon the Path that leads him to that great escape from “the corruption that is in the world by lust“.

Jesus shows us this focus as He tells us that “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” and when we can understand this idea of heart as the conscious awareness of a man which IS and ever becomes his thoughts and attitudes, we can come to a greater understanding of our own selves. It IS one’s heart that must change, it IS the thoughts and the attitudes that men hold dear that must come to be oriented toward the Truth and away from “the corruption that is in the world by lust“. It IS only in this change, this True meaning of Repentance, that we can come to the realization of the Truth and understand our own deliverance, our own freedom, “from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).

This IS our True journey and while the doctrines of men point us to the nebulous and the vague ideas that vary from denomination to denomination, there IS still the Truth of His words for ALL who can come to get a glimpse of the True Light and strive toward yet greater revelation.

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.

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.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts

• ⁷ Dictionary.com Unabridged based on Random House Dictionary – 2011
• ** Revised Version text from http://ebible.org/eng-rv/