ON LOVE; PART MLXXIX
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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 spent much of the last essay discussing the Life of the Apostle Peter which is left for us as an example of our own journey from the mortal and carnal Life of a man enmeshed in himself and in the things of the self. It IS this that everyman IS brought to by his own nurturing and indoctrination and which IS further enhanced by his years of blind experience. We interlaced this discussion with our ideas on the Union that comes to the man who will keep His words, a Union between the man and God which IS seen in the ability of a man to express the things of God, express “the fruit of the Spirit” if you will, through his mortal vehicle in this world….Redeeming it and rendering it spiritual.
And this IS our example: the Apostle Peter comes to our attention as a fisherman, a carnal man without the implications of any gross offenses, and a self proclaimed ‘sinner’ whose confession should show us that he DID understand the reality of his sin. The Master awakens him to the Truth of his own spiritual being and he seemingly instantly recognizes his failures which ARE but the normal thoughts, attitudes and actions of the “natural man” who IS everyman. There IS NO discussion and there ARE NO second thoughts as Peter, under the influence of his own Soul, his own unction and anointing, immediately follows the Lord. This following IS NOT according to the carnal ways that men have since followed Him, this IS a total forsaking which the apostle shows us saying “we have forsaken all, and followed thee” (Matthew 19:27).
We have often spoken of the way that the apostles and many of the disciples of the Master, as well as many of their disciples, were a part of a carefully formulated Plan to bring the New Dispensation into the world of men. These were Souls with some greater measure of spiritual collateral that consciously took part in His advent but who, at the same time, had to overcome their own degree of nurturing, indoctrination and experience. We should remember here that some of these, as well as many of those who would interact with Him to allow for His own birth and progress, were able to overcome their own carnal proclivities and participate in this Grand Scheme by way of their physical proximity to a True Son of God whose expression was ever one of Union with the Godhead through a Redeemed carnal form.
While they had the Master to aid in their awakening, men since have had the equal benefit of His words and the amplifying and clarifying words of His apostles. This IS NOT however working as it was likely planned or as it was hoped it would work as those who succeeded them DID NOT see His Truths as they were intended but rather as they were interpreted by “another gospel: Which is not another“. They were interpreted by those who would take on the ‘authority’ of the apostles in a time when it seemed to be more important to convert men than to offer the Master’s simple Truths….and it IS in this way that religion yet continues. Paul’s warning and his admonition to the Galatians IS clear yet men DO NOT heed it because they have revised the meaning of his words to, as he says, “to please men“.
While Paul IS speaking to the men of Galatia who ARE taken by those that formulate “another gospel“, and perhaps to those that DO “trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ“, he IS speaking as well to the generations that have succeeded them. Over the centuries what Paul calls “another gospel” has become THE gospel that IS preached across the world, a gospel which with its varied doctrines fails to see the intent of the apostles words saying:
“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:6-12).
And so the difficulty of the modern man IS found in the reality that most ALL that comes to his ears IS the product of “another gospel” and, unfortunately, NOT a singular one. The choice of the modern man IS NOT between the Truth and “another gospel” but between the many versions of “another gospel” that ALL claim to have captured the reality of Christianity. Men still DO however have His words and the words of His apostles and while there ARE many translations of these words, some DO hold the seeds of Truth that ARE rather uncompromised by the translators’ doctrinal view. And this IS today’s reality: that men should come to understand that the basic Truth of True Christianity IS that men should keep His words and that they should rely upon His apostles for their clarifying and amplifying words in their writings and epistles. It IS when a man finds some glimpse of His Truths that the ideas from Paul’s words to the Ephesians become ever so important as it IS ONLY in striving that men will achieve; we read this as the Way of the aspirant to discipleship:
“This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:17-24).
The work of the aspirant then IS to begin to see the dichotomy between the carnal and the spiritual that IS spoken of by Jesus and by His apostles but which has NEVER been understood. It has been glimpsed by some of those denominations or sects that DO forsake ALL things carnal but, in the way that most of these live in seclusion according to their own doctrines, they ARE seeing but a small part of the True work which IS offered to us in Jesus words that ARE called the Great Commission. The True basis of Jesus’ words IS NOT to give up on the world but to embrace it with an attitude of selflessness and Love, an attitude that is simply summed up in His words “take no thought“. In the carnal view of these words however His Truth IS relegated to the idea of ‘do not worry’ and while this IS included in “take no thought“, it IS but a small part of a greater Truth. We should remember and understand that this admonition to “Take no thought for your life” (Matthew 6:25) IS a part of His words and ARE included in our trifecta which we read again saying:
- “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).
In His words saying that men should “Take no thought for your life” we have a cornerstone of True Christianity and while doctrines may teach that the Master’s intent IS that one should NOT worry, even this pale interpretation IS NOT heeded. Men’s thoughts are ever upon themselves and the things of the self, thoughts which include that list of things that men should forsake for the Kingdom. And it IS NOT difficult to see the Truth in the clarity of His words saying “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” and then again that “whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26, 33).
And this IS the same message that Jesus gives us in the several sayings that address Life, sayings that ARE NOT understood in the context that the Master intended….sayings that ARE NOT understood at ALL. The best view of Jesus’ words on losing one’s Life to save one’s Life perhaps IS found in the way that the Apostle John frames Jesus’ thoughts saying: “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, if we can see this in the same way that we should read Jesus’ words on discipleship from Luke’s Gospel, we can perhaps have a better view of the Truth. In both of these ideas from the Master we should see the dichotomy between the carnal and the spiritual and understand that it IS the Way of the disciple to eschew the carnal and to pursue the spiritual and, if one wonders about just what it IS that IS to be eschewed, Jesus DOES give us the list that we have above.
While ALL things carnal ARE covered under the simple reality of “all that he hath“, it IS the rest of His words that DO cause much angst in Christian circles. This IS of course based in one’s nurturing and indoctrination rather than in spiritual Truth, a Truth which IS easily understood when one can understand and accept the idea that men should have NO “respect to persons“. Men DO NOT understand the severity of these words as they relate to the their own carnal views which ARE inherent in the vanity, in the illusions and the glamour, that IS Life in this world. And this failure to understand IS despite the relative clarity and the bluntness of the Apostle James words saying “But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” (James 2:9).
Men DO NOT see that having NO “respect to persons” IS a primary component of agape as this IS presented to us in the Great Commandments and in the Golden Rule; men DO NOT get past their own carnal understanding of Love, of agape, as their mental and emotional attachment and attraction to others and to the things of this world. It IS in the context of Jesus’ words regarding discipleship and His words saying that “He that loveth his life shall lose it” that we find the ultimate Truth regarding His saying that one should “Take no thought for your life“.
Men DO NOT understand that discipleship IS the goal and that His Presence, His Truths and His Kingdom come ONLY to the True disciple….to the man who will keep His words. Men would rather see themselves as the carnal beings that they have been nurtured and indoctrinated into believing that they ARE. It IS this idea that comes through in doctrinal Christian thought regarding the whole idea that men should “Take no thought for your life” and it IS this idea that blocks out the True idea that Jesus offers us. Vincent shows us some of the history of the Greek word merimnao which IS rendered here as thought; he tells us that: The cognate noun is μέριμνα , care, which was formerly derived from μερίς , a part; μερίζω , to divide; and was explained accordingly as a dividing care, distracting the heart from the true object of life, This has been abandoned, however, and the word is placed in a group which carries the common notion of earnest thoughtfulness. It may include the ideas of worry and anxiety, and may emphasize these, but not necessarily 4.
These ARE Vincent’s words and if we can see this as that men ARE dividing care, distracting the heart from the true object of life, we can then perhaps see the greater idea of Jesus’ words. Vincent goes on to tell us that: The word has entirely lost this meaning 4 and then goes on to give us an example from Bishop Lightfoot that shows how that the carnal ideas of Life have overwhelmed Jesus Truth; we read: Bishop Lightfoot (“On a Fresh Revision of the New Testament”) says: “I have heard of a political economist alleging this passage as an objection to the moral teaching of the sermon on the mount, on the ground that it encouraged, nay, commanded, a reckless neglect of the future.”4.
It IS this way of thinking that has obnubilated the Truth of Jesus’ words and has set men upon a most carnal understanding of His words. While we may see this as it says, that we should “Take no thought for your life” as this IS stated by the Master; and while doctrines may paint His intent in the form of worry which Vincent also shows us saying: It is uneasiness and worry about the future which our Lord condemns here 4, neither form of interpretation IS become a part of the many doctrines of Christianity. This IS largely because men DO NOT see nor understand that they have succumbed “unto another gospel” that DOES NOT paint spiritual Life in terms of keeping His words nor DOES it show the warning and caution against this that IS Paul’s intent in our selection which we repeat again:
“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:6-12).
It IS a difficult thing to “Take no thought for your life” and the Master’s explanation of these ideas IS equally difficult. But this IS the Way of Truth, the way of the disciple and the way of the aspirant who by measure will grow as Jesus tells us….as the Kingdom grows from the mustard seed to the tree. It IS the Truth and His Presence that come by measure and it IS in these that we can Truly understand the apostles’ words, that they ARE to clarify and to amplify the Master’s own injunctions. And it IS in one’s measure of revelation and realization that he can see the greater Truths that ARE “the works of the flesh” and begin to Truly express “the fruit of the Spirit” as spiritual ideas. We read the apostle’s words again saying:
“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 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
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
