ON LOVE; PART MXIX
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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 thoughts on the Master’s words regarding Life, on losing it and finding it as He shows us in saying such things as “If any man 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: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26). In the last post we presented some doctrinal ideas on these words from John Gill 8 and noted how that he DOES NOT see the sense of duality concerning Life that we DO see in the Master’s words. For us it seems rather clear that Jesus IS showing us the reality of focus and if we could see the idea in these terms, we can better understand His intent.
To save one’s Life here IS in reference to the carnal Life which IS the focus of the man who IS NOT seeking the Truth and we should understand that this idea reaches far into the human condition; this IS everyman whose Life is focused on keeping this Earthly existence right and strong from a carnal perspective while the other choice IS found in keeping His words or Truly striving to DO so. The man who “will save his life” IS the man to whom this existence IS seen as his True sense of self, the man who DOES NOT see the reality of the Inner man as the potential director of his worldly affairs; and in this group of men ARE many who teach and who follow doctrines that DO NOT see the reality of His words as we find them in the Great Commandments and in our trifecta which we repeat 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).
Jesus’ point in these sayings about Life should show us that the man who chooses to keep and maintain his worldly Life, to make it whole if you will, IS the man who will lose whatsoever progression toward the True spiritual Life that we see in the trifecta. Because this man IS focused upon the carnal Life, he will NOT see the Truths that ARE the spiritual Life and these include his own realization of the Truth, of the Presence of God and His Kingdom. The Master gives us then the converse; He tells us that to the man who will strive to keep His words, which can be seen in one’s forsaking the carnal existence and his focus upon that existence, IS the man who will find His focus upon the things of God, a focus which brings him the Truth, the Presence of God and His Kingdom.
We must ever see the sense of duality that we touched upon in the last post. We must try to understand that Life in this world becomes twofold because of the illusion and the glamour which IS the reality found in the Apostle Paul’s words saying that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same” (Romans 8:20). Embedded in this vanity IS the viewpoint of the man in the world whose nurturing and experience, his indoctrination and his proclivities, produce that vanity of which Vincent tells us that: the reference is to a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4. On the other side IS the Life of the Soul, the spiritual Life that IS hidden from the view of the carnal man until such time as he gets some glimpse of the Truth through the prompting of his own Soul; it IS the Soul which the Apostle John tells us of saying that “the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you….the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie” (1 John 2:27).
That men DO NOT see these things IS the result of the vanity which IS the intentional grounding of the Life of everyman in the muck and mire of worldly living and it IS this that everyman must overcome. When we can see how that this IS the reality of the “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints….which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:26-27), we can then see how that this “Christ in you” IS that unction, that anointing, which allows men to “be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). This IS the duality of Life here in this world, a duality that IS founded in the Plan of God and we should try to see here how that it IS the work of everyman to overcome the flesh, it IS the responsibility of every Soul to express the Truth and His Presence through his form which IS the deeper reality of that Union of the Soul with his vehicle of expression.
It IS this Union that overcomes the duality and it IS this Union that we should see in Paul’s words saying that he himself IS “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). This IS the endpoint, this IS the final and full realization of Truth and the Presence of God; this IS where the flesh loses ALL sight of the self as the center of his Life and becomes, with the mind and the emotions, the expression of that Truth and that realization that IS revealed by measure to the man who will Truly strive to keep His words. It IS in this realization that True faith comes into the Life of a man and it IS in this realization that that faith, that KNOWING of some measure of the Truth, becomes a man’s expression; it IS in this way that faith IS a “fruit of the Spirit” as we read in Paul’s words that have been our topic; we read 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 this duality that we should see in Paul’s words that tell us of the Soul or the Spirit against the carnal self, the flesh; that “these are contrary the one to the other“; if we see naught else in this idea, we should see the duality. And it IS the end of this duality that we should see in the end point of these words from the apostle; it IS the end of duality that we find when we “have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts“. We should try to see how that it IS the adoption that IS the end point which we should understand as Vincent shows us in his commentary on the meaning of Greek word in Rome….that the adopted son has ALL the privileges; not ONLY of the natural born son but of the adopter as well. Vincent frames it, quoting Charles Merivale, as that: The process of legal adoption by which the chosen heir became entitled not only to the reversion of the property but to the civil status, to the burdens as well as the rights of the adopter – became, as it were, his other self, one with him 4. It IS this idea which Paul IS bringing to us and it IS this idea that IS reflected in his words which, according to Vincent, ARE showing us that: We have but a faint conception of the force with which such an illustration would speak to one familiar with the Roman practice; how it would serve to impress upon him the assurance that the adopted son of God becomes, in a peculiar and intimate sense, one with the heavenly Father 4.
It IS in this Union that duality ends. It IS in the realization of Oneness with God which comes in the fullness of one’s realization that he IS the Soul, the spiritual self, which IS ever One with God. This IS the reality of the Master’s words that precede the final part of our trifecta above; we read that “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:20). Here we can believe that Jesus IS speaking ONLY to His disciples and about a particular event but then we must believe the same about so much more of His words. If however we can see how that His words ARE directed at them and at ALL who would follow them, then we can understand these realities of Union and of Oneness as the realization that comes in the fullness of discipleship….and by measure to ALL that Truly strive.
We should understand as well that it IS the elimination of this duality that IS the unseen prima facia Truth in the words of Jesus and His apostles that deal with the dichotomy between the carnal and the spiritual. From Jesus words on “God and mammon“, His words on the treasures which one will “lay up” (be they “treasures upon earth” or be they “treasures in heaven“), (Matthew 6:24, 19, 20) to the Apostle James’ words showing us this dichotomy saying 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), the meaning IS the same. It IS against this duality that James tells us that “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8) and that the Master tells us that “No man can serve two masters….Ye cannot serve God and mammon“.
Being against this duality IS a theme that runs throughout the New Testament and this IS offered to us in the Old as well….in ALL sayings that show that a man’s focus should be upon God and the things of God; and NONE IS clearer than the first part of the Great Commandments. In human terms this IS the culmination of one’s striving and while this single pointed view of Life in spiritual terms may seem an impossibility, it IS ONLY so from the perspective of the man who has never strived to see the Truth of His words; words of which He tells us that “they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). It IS the man who has NOT Truly set out to seek the Truth that sees the impossibility and in this idea we should try to see how that the Truth IS so much more than the law and the commandments.
In this we should try to see the Truth of Paul’s perspective on faith and the law; we should try to see that in the Truth, in KNOWING the Truth or some measure of it, we can come to see how that our own duality IS our greatest hindrance to our own spiritual reality. It IS in this duality that we look to God yet live as men seeking “treasures upon earth” and this NOT ONLY in physical treasures but, most importantly, in the psychic treasures of the mind and the emotions which lead men down the path of those ‘seven deadly sins’. And while these seven ARE wrongful thoughts and attitudes for any man who strives toward Christ, doctrines seem to treat them so much more casually than those purely physical offenses that ARE but the result.
It IS in seeing the duality and the Truth of the dichotomy between the spirit and the flesh, that “these are contrary the one to the other“, that we find a True measure of KNOWING and thereby a True measure of faith. And it IS in one’s expression of this KNOWING, this faith as a “fruit of the Spirit“, that he can live his Life against the pull of his own lower nature to think and to feel in human terms. It IS in the reality of this idea of faith that a man can rise above the struggle of striving that IS his Life in this world and Truly understand the meaning behind the words that show us the dichotomy that MUST be seen. We close today by repeating the words of the Master and His apostles on this necessary separation in thought and in attitude; we read:
- The Apostle John tells us: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:5).
- The Apostle James tells us: “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).
- The Apostle Paul tells us: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).
- The Apostle Paul also tells us: “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness” (1 Corinthians 3:19).
- The Apostle Peter tells us: “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 1:4).
- And finally we repeat Jesus words saying: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also….Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:19-21, 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
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
