ON LOVE; PART MXVIII
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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 with our discussion of the many ideas that ARE faith and that can be linked to faith when the Greek word pistis IS seen as that quality of Life in which men KNOW some measure of the Truth. In this regard we should try to see that men DO NOT have faith as men in this world but rather they develop faith; they develop the KNOWING of spiritual things and of spiritual ideas as these ARE revealed to the consciousness by the Soul. It IS the Soul that IS the Christ Within, it IS the Soul that IS that unction that the Apostle John tells us will “teacheth you of all things” (1 John 2:27). It IS by faith that we can overcome the illusion and the glamour of Life in this world and this faith, this KNOWING, ONLY comes as one focuses upon the things of God and strives to keep His words as He so clearly tells us in our trifecta which we repeat here 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 clarity of these ideas that we should most clearly see the source of Truth and of KNOWING and it IS in these words that we should be able to understand that the Presence of God comes into the Life of the man in the world in and as the revelations of Truth from that Presence to the consciousness. And it IS when we can understand that this Presence IS that unction, that anointing which IS the Soul, that we can realize the greater Truths and unlock some of the mysteries of Life in form. While the trifecta gives us Jesus’ words on the state of a man in the fullness of keeping His words, we should ever remember how that He teaches us as well in the idea of measure and when we can link this idea of measure to the reality of striving which He tells us to DO saying “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24), we can then better understand His words on measure and on the growth of the Kingdom Within or, better, the growth of one’s realization of the Kingdom of God Within.
When we can see how that faith IS a “fruit of the Spirit“, we can then understand that faith comes from the Spirit, and we can then look at this KNOWING in the idea of measure which Jesus shows us. In His words on the man who IS the “good ground” in His explanation of the Parable of the Sower we find the sense of measure of one’s bearing fruit; then, by reasonable deduction, we find the sense of one’s measure of faith. Jesus tells us that “he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matthew 13:23) and while the idea used here IS understanding the word, the apostle Mark tells us that it IS receiving the word and the Apostle Luke tells us that it IS keeping the word. It IS in the combination of these ideas that we find Truth….it IS in the understanding that comes in keeping and the acceptance that comes in focus that produce “the fruit of the Spirit” in one’s Life and thereby the faith.
And while these ideas have ever been True, men have NOT been able to discern them as they have been, and yet ARE, clouded in the mysteries that have prevented men from seeing and hearing the deeper Truths that separate the man in the world from his True spiritual self. It has ever been that the Truths become KNOWN to the man who will keep His words and here we should try to see how that the law of Moses was intended to bring men closer to God in ways that acknowledged the barbarous and superstitious ways of men in those days and before. While there was the promise in those days of the more carnal benefits of one’s focus on the things of God, these ideas likely faded in the hearts of those who were able to see some measure of the Truth. At the same time it IS the carnal benefits and promises that have kept men focused upon the self and it was ONLY the few who could see past this that DID overcome.
We should try to see here how that the doctrines of men, the doctrines of the Jews in those days, reinforced the carnal view of Life over the Truly spiritual and this perhaps to the point where fewer and fewer were able to see the Light that was obnubilated by men who DID NOT see beyond their own sense of doctrine; and it IS these men who had taken authority for the spiritual progress of the masses. It IS these men of whom the Master says that “they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matthew 15:14). And then came the Messiah; NOT to effect any change in the carnal lives of men per se but to bring men closer to God by restating the eternal Truths by which men should live.
Here we should understand the very nature of these Truths IS founded in the Great Commandments which, while scattered in the law that Moses presented, ARE Jesus’ presentation of the foundation of ALL spiritual Truth. It IS these seemingly hidden ideas from the law that were missed by the Jews whose doctrines became so much of the way of the law that the Apostle Paul speaks against. It IS the rote DOING of the tenets of the doctrines of the Jews that caused Isaiah to decry their ways and the Master to repeat the prophet’s words saying “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 13:15). It IS doctrine that dulls the hearing and it IS doctrine that closes the eyes and it IS in the reality of faith that men can again begin to see.
And so we have conversion and we have healing as ideas that have ever been available to men and, as we discussed in the last essay, these ARE the same in effect as Repentance and the nebulous idea of being saved. It IS when men turn back again toward the things of God as they get some glimpse of the Truth from the prompting of their own Souls that their focus changes; this IS conversion and this IS Repentance. And it IS this focus upon the things of God that brings men the healing and the salvation which ARE found in a man’s ability to express the Truth. And it IS in this expression that one IS made whole which IS the better meaning of both sozo and iaomai which ARE rendered above in terms of being healed and being saved. ALL of this comes upon a man in his own “measure of faith” (Romans 12:3) which flows from the Godhead which IS the unction that IS realized by the man who will strive to keep His words.
The failure of doctrines to show the Truth IS the cause of these timeless ideas that show how that “the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed” (Acts 28:27). And the same IS True yet today as doctrines focus upon their misinterpreted words from Paul and the eschatological ideas that have come to the forefront of the teachings of many denominations and sects. It IS doctrines that allow men to focus upon the carnal interpretations of spiritual Truths and which fail to see how that such interpretations ARE contrary to the Master’s words and contrary to the published ideas on the dichotomy which must exist between the spiritual and the carnal….between the things of God and the things of and of the self in this world.
It IS when we can understand that it IS the carnal focus of men that shows the words of the Master to be impossible that we can begin to see how that the Truth IS found in faith where “nothing shall be impossible” (Matthew 17:20). It IS this carnal focus that has created doctrines and it IS this carnal focus that perpetuates them as men who have taken authority over the spiritual lives of many lead them astray as “blind leaders of the blind“. And while our own view IS toward the necessity of doctrines which DO keep some modicum of focus upon God in the lives of many, we should also see how that there must be an awakening and a realization that there IS a deeper Truth which shows men the futility of the carnal perspective on Life.
This futility reaches far back as we see in the words of Ecclesiastes where we read that “As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand. And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?” (Ecclesiastes 5:15-16). In the illusion and glamour of Life even the common sense offered in this saying IS lost by the many who pursue worldly gain; men DO NOT understand nor DO they seek to understand how that the dichotomy between the carnal and the spiritual IS shown clearly in Jesus words and in the words of His apostles.
Here we should try to see and to understand how that it IS a man’s view toward the spiritual, a view that minimizes ALL carnal importance, that IS the Truth of faith; this IS the Truth of KNOWING the True meaning of His words on Life….the Life that IS one’s existence here in this world and his Life as a Soul, as the True Inner man which IS ever one with God. Jesus tells us “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:34-36). In these words we have the duality of Life and here we have again that Greek word sozo rendered as save.
The idea here of sozo IS NOT to save one’s Life as this idea IS understood in either a physical or in a spiritual way; first the physical Life IS NOT in jeopardy and second the spiritual Life DOES NOT need saving. We should note here that the Greek word psuche IS rendered as both Life and as Soul in these sayings and here we have a kind of double entendre; while these ideas ARE related, they ARE very confused in New Testament usage and it IS ever left to the context to decide which word should be understood. If we can look at these ideas as that there ARE two independent thoughts here that ARE clouded in the mysteries of Life itself, we can then see the Master’s point which IS clarified in the second part.
Taking the three verses together we find the idea of forsaking which takes the form here of “let him deny himself” and in this context the contrary point would be “whosoever will save his life” which IS reference to his Life focused here in this world. Here we can see how that the idea of save can be seen in the context of make whole which IS an alternate rendering for sozo; and here then we would have a man who would make whole his physical Life; that IS to focus on it despite the scriptural point that this IS futility. In accord with the idea of forsaking we have the next point in the duality: to the man who will DO so, the man who will “take up his cross, and follow me” DOES lose his focus upon the physical and carnal existence and thereby DOES make whole his spiritual Life. In both of these endeavors, NOT forsaking and forsaking, there IS a choice; on the one hand IS choosing the carnal Life as one’s focus and on the other there IS choosing the things of God and His word.
It IS in a man’s choosing to “deny himself” that we see the reality of one’s making his Life whole and here again there IS a contrary point which IS to choose the world; here one still forsakes but this IS forsaking his expression of the Christ Within which IS his own Soul. We should try to see here that the sense of losing IS NOT timeless but that it IS in time with the constant choice between the Life in this world and the Life of the Soul, the constant choice between “God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). The Apostle John shows us this same idea in different terms; we read: “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal” (John 12:25).
Here we have a singular view of Life in the ideas of the one that can be lost and the one that can be kept; here the Life to lose is the spiritual one, the Life of the Soul expressed through form, and it IS this same one that can be kept; it IS the spiritual Life, the Life of the Soul that IS “life eternal“. The difference here IS found in the focus of the man in this world; it IS here that we see the duality as the one that IS Loved IS the Life of the man in this world and it IS this Love, this focus, that will cause the True Life, the spiritual Life, to be lost. ALL of these ideas ARE seen quite differently by much of Christian doctrine; in example we read this from John Gill: Life is a valuable thing, and all that a man has he will give for it; self preservation is a principle in nature; and it becomes every man to take all lawful methods to save his life, when it is threatened, or is in danger: but whoever is willing to save it, when it is called for to be laid down for Christ’s sake; and rather than lay it down, will deny Christ, and give up a profession of him, and his Gospel 8.
Mr. Gill goes on in this same tone and reflects a bit differently in regard to these same verses in Matthew’s Gospel where his commentary is IS regard to being: desirous of preserving himself from troubles, reproaches, persecutions, and death 8. In neither commentary DOES he see the duality that IS presented and when we can understand that this sense of duality IS a part of the mysteries that ARE ONLY seen by the man who will strive to keep His words rather that his own sense of doctrine, we can then better understand the greater Truths of Life itself.
We leave off again today with our selection from Galatians which we DID NOT specifically address but whose ideas ARE found in the reality of faith; it IS in KNOWING some measure of Truth that one can be Truly “led of the Spirit” and this measure comes ONLY as one strives to keep His words; words of which Jesus says “they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).
“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).
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 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.
We repeat here a Quote of the Day that we spent much time with over the course of our essays. In this affirmation we find the Truth of discipleship as we have been ever been expressing and here we can relate our themes of the last few days; “take no thought” for the things of the world and that we approach the Kingdom and discipleship in the nature of the little child, in humbleness, meekness, unashamed in any way and unassuming. The message that this imparts for us today IS that it IS the Soul that is at work in the world of men as it expresses to some degree the purpose, power and the will through Life in this world. These words are from a meditation offered to his students by our Tibetan brother and in which we find greater understanding of the message of the Master. This IS Truly the way of the disciple.
My Soul has purpose, power and will; these three are needed on the Way of Liberation.
My Soul must foster love among the sons of men; this is its major purpose.
I, therefore, will to love and tread the Way of Love. All that hinders and obstructs the showing of the Light must disappear before the purposes of the Soul.
My will is one with the great Will of God;. that Holy Will requires that all men serve. And unto the purposes of the Plan I lend my little will.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
