ON LOVE; PART MCCCLXXXI
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
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).
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
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.
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
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).
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
We ended the last essay with some thoughts on the Way that agape IS the useful tool for everyman to at least begin to see the True salvation that the Master promises us. We discussed how that the ‘salvation‘ offered by the churches IS but a faint portrayal of our ultimate glory. Jesus tells us in our trifecta that the Way to the Truth, the Way to real discipleship which IS the Way to Truly having His Presence in one’s Life, and the Way to the Kingdom IS found in keeping His words. That the churches have changed this Way into their various doctrinal presentations which they then insist ARE the True way IS but the working out of the vanity of Life by which men see themselves ONLY as what they ARE in this world. Most ALL fail to see the deeper realities that ARE shown us by the Master and His apostles and this failure IS based solely in men’s desire for ‘spiritual’ comfort and a sense of a ‘useful’ purpose for their lives which they then see as continuing in their own sense of heaven. Jesus shows us the Way, the Truth and the Life but we ARE yet too blinded by our doctrinal ideas to see His Truth. Men have, as Christian believers, built their denominations and sects, their divisions of Christ if you will, into a worldwide extravaganza that has little True spiritual benefit for any. There ARE those whose sense of doctrinal religion makes of them more virtuous people and despite their error of placing doctrines above Truth, these will likely reap some grace through their efforts and their virtue. These however ARE the few. Most ALL DO NOT change their lives, most ALL DO not change their thoughts and attitudes which ARE grounded in this carnal world’s vanity, most ALL ARE content being men among men, ever striving toward their share of those “treasures upon earth” while they ignore the True treasures which ARE “treasures in heaven“. Most ALL choose mammon over God and this because the church DOES NOT teach them the reality of this choice but rather encourages men to chase after the things of this world in possessions, careers, social status and whatsoever else serves to enhance one’s position among men. Men have ever blinded themselves to the clearly elucidated Truths of scripture as they seek out bible sayings that give them comfort or which they can use to justify their own carnality. Men have ever failed to understand the reality of Paul’s words as they place themselves into positions, mental and emotional positions, where they believe that they have gained ALL the positive ideas presented in scripture while attributing the negative to what they see as the secular world. Most ALL fail to understand the dichotomy between their carnal lives in this world and True spirituality; most fail to see that the latter requires such ideas as that one must “mortify the deeds of the body“. This failure IS based in the teachings of the church that DO NOT show the reality of these “deeds of the body” which ARE understood by most as ONLY those gross sins of men. Many ONLY see men’s sexual sins and other such things as murder and lives steeped in crime. These “deeds of the body” ARE NOT limited to such things however; these “deeds of the body” include ALL that IS contrary to the Truth of the Master’s words and here again we should see the Great Commandments as Jesus’ summary of that Truth; a summary that has agape at its heart.
Not ONLY DOES the church NOT see the reality of True spirituality but they dismiss the words of the author of the True spiritual Path while holding onto His ‘name’ as the assumed foundation of their religions. In the Book of Acts we read that “the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch” (Acts 11:26) but we should note here that it IS disciples that were so called. Few of today’s Christians ARE True disciples; most ARE regular people who have elevated their status based in their doctrinal precepts. Few have been taught as the apostles were instructed to teach; few teach the reality of Great Commission that they have adopted as a church. The Master clearly says “Go ye therefore, and teach make disciples of all nations men, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world age” (Matthew 28:19-20) and in this instruction there IS NO space for the doctrines of men. While most accept Jesus as “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2) they DO at the same time dismiss and ignore His words of Truth in favor of the more easily manipulated words of the Apostle Paul. In most ALL Christian denominations and sects it IS Paul that seen as the actual “author and finisher of our faith“, it IS his words that have become the doctrines of men and here we should note that it IS ONLY doctrinally selected words. The whole of the apostle’s message IS NOT the isolated and out of context words that the church has assembled into their various doctrinal presentations and, to be sure, even these words ARE misunderstood and misapplied. We should understand that the Great Commission was in regard to the Master’s words, His teachings of Truth, and while these ARE dismissed based in doctrinal ideas that His words ARE meant for the Jews, it IS Jesus words that the disciples in Antioch were teaching. In the end, it IS a church fixated on Paul’s words as the foundation of their doctrines that IS what we have today and have had for many centuries. This IS become so ingrained in the minds of men that there IS little if any way to change the doctrinal thinker’s mind. And it IS into this ingrained sense of truth that generation after generation IS nurtured and indoctrinated. We should try to see here that in some ways this fixation IS the cause, especially in more advanced societies, for the lack of interest that young people have in the church and the religion it represents. We should try to see as well that it IS this lack of interest that minimizes their indoctrination and it IS this freedom from preconceived religious thinking that IS the singular hope for change; it IS to such people that the True message of agape must be taught. And perhaps it IS being taught outside of the organized church as many millions ARE revolting against the separative ways of the church and ARE beginning to show forth the underlying objectives of the New Age. They ARE in many ways expressing some of the qualities of agape as they seek Unity and freedom from the prejudices and hatreds of the past. This IS happening now and IS evident in the political and social arenas of Life in this world today. We should remember that in ALL True revolutionary changes to the psyches of men there IS resistance as the forces of the status quo rally against the new ways and it IS this that IS Voltaire’s message with which we end our essays. Voltaire tells us that “Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road” and this can be easily seen by the keen observer in most every area where social and political changes ARE being wrought out in the world today. Perhaps here the best example IS in regard to climate.
While the church IS having its difficulties keeping and attracting followers, the secular world IS at the same time active on two fronts, economics and social justice. It IS interesting to note that the progressive side of this IS more active in the secular world while the more conservative views, those of the status quo, ARE more concentrated in and around the church and while this IS most apparent in the Christian denominations and sects, it can likely be found in most every religion. We can put the story of the Master in this context; the Jews and their religion set up a staunch objection to Jesus’ message of Love and Truth. The Jews’ leaders actively promoted the status quo and in many ways ostracized those who would heed the Master’s call to Love and Truth. We can see this in the way that even those among or close to the Jews’ religious leaders acted; we read in John’s Gospel that “Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews” (John 19:38). The strength of the Jews’ leaders hold upon the religious fervor of men IS shown us by the Master who tells His disciples that “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service” (John 16:2). This hold of the religious status quo IS also the scene painted for us regarding the Life of the Apostle Paul before his conversion on the road to Damascus; the apostle himself tells us that: “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities” (Acts 26:9-11). Paul here symbolizes the religious fervor among the religious Jews as they try to hold onto the power that they had assumed among the people. Our point here IS that such ideas as this ARE directly transferable to world history and to the social and political upheavals that we see yet today. We should try to see that the motivating forces ARE NOT ONLY found in the minds of men but more importantly in the changes that time brings. Changes that ARE wrought out according to the Great and Awesome Plan of God and implemented through the changing energies that impact our world in ways that we have NOT yet discovered.
It IS to these changes of the times, changes that can be studied through the history of our planet, that the era of Love can arrive and IS arriving. That this IS more prevalent in the secular world IS unfortunate for the church which should be taking a leading role in the presentation of Unity. Far too many ARE stuck in the grip of their vanity, both individual and corporate; far too many ARE yet being indoctrinated into the ways of prejudice and hatred and these ARE to be found in most every arena of human Life. The move to Love, to an expression of agape, however IS unstoppable despite the staunch adversarial pressures that ARE placed upon those who ARE beginning to so express themselves. Again, in politics, in religion and in most every social arena there ARE those that lean toward Love versus those that seek to maintain that air separateness that sets them apart and which furnishes names by which they identify themselves. While our labels of conservative and progressive seem to lean toward the political world of ideas, the reality IS that these labels can be applied in most every area of human thought and the very nature of the names should reveal the motivation of each group. As an adjective today’s definition of conservative IS one who IS: disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change*; this tells us much about the mindset of most ALL that claim this label. The progressive on the other hand IS defined as one who IS: favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are, especially in political matters; making progress toward better conditions; employing or advocating more enlightened or liberal ideas, new or experimental methods*. While these ARE most generally applied to one’s politics, the effect of each frame of mind spills over into ALL other arenas of Life; one’s politics will often define one’s religious and social stance. We should understand here that the tides of change ARE the movement of progression and this has ever been True. In Truth, we should see Jesus NOT as a rebel but as the implementer of progressive changes, which history shows us covered the political, religious and social ideas of men. His Truth however has been replaced by doctrines and it IS these doctrines that seek to maintain the old way of thinking despite the way that His influence has moved the world forward in quite a progressive way. A Way that is aided by the changing energies of the Universe that ARE, from the human perspective, our God.
In the end we should try to see that it IS this progressiveness over the centuries has resulted in the more democratic way of governance and in the scientific innovations wrought by men, most of which ARE, by design, intended to uplift the whole of humanity. There IS NO stopping this progression and should we be able to see the role of agape in this sea change, we could perhaps then better understand how this word, agape, means so much more that the ideas of Love that ARE applied to it. ALL of this takes place behind the reality of Life and IS in many ways its motivating force toward progress and change. Should those that seek to hold on to the old and worn ways of thinking see this Truth, we could then revive a church, a society and perhaps its political movements, ALL of which DO seek revival. This sense of revival however would NOT be in the form that IS anticipated by most of the church. This IS especially True in religious movements where such revival IS hoped to be a resurgence of men’s response to the doctrines of men, doctrines which themselves represent those old and worn ways of thinking about God and His relationship to man. We have an easy measure that can work here and that IS the Return of the Christ to this world of men. Simply put, should we measure the ways of the church to the teaching of the Master and the True content of His apostles writings; we should understand that it IS NOT possible that a returning Christ could approve of the multiplicity of denominations and sects of the religion that bears His name. Nor would He approve of the lack of True agape in a church that seems to thrive on its separative attitudes. Here we should remember that the Jews believed that their doctrines, their mitzvah that continues yet today sans the sacrifices and harsh punishments, was the way of Truth, a way that their own Messiah strongly ‘condemned’. DO we really think that His response to the Christian religions that come from His name but NOT from His teaching would be approved by a returning Christ? And this IS our point: as the Jews waited for their Messiah, and many still DO wait, so DO many Christians wait for the return of the Master. Both welcome(d) the coming while believing that their doctrinal ideas would be approved and while the Jews experience IS history, the Christian fails to see the lessons of history. A point of reflection here IS found in Jesus words, His question and His answer, saying to the Jews religious leaders “Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you” (Matthew 21:31).
The parable attached to these words depicts one son who says he will DO as the Father asks and DOES NOT while the other says he will NOT but effectively DOES and our comparison here IS to the progressive nature of the secular world versus the ofttimes staunchly conservative ways of the churches. This brings us back again to the reality of agape which IS the singular idea that should be taken from ALL of the Master’s teachings and from the amplifying and clarifying words of His apostles. It IS the fundamental property of agape: Unity and a Universal vision of the Oneness of the human family, that must be the objective of men. Here we should try to see and understand that while this vision IS embraced by much of the secular world, it IS yet largely rejected by the Christian world. This IS despite the fact that the fundamental ideas of agape ARE part of their altogether insufficient understanding of the precept that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“. Taking this idea back to the parable we should try to see the request of the Father as that His son should “love thy neighbour as thyself“. While the second son agrees to DO this, he DOES NOT. While the first son rejects the idea of this Love and DOES so religiously; he IS unwilling to Love according to the doctrinal sense that existed in those days as well as now, he then proceeds to express such Love according to a better understanding of the idea. We should understand that while this seems to be a stretch of the Master’s intent, it IS NOT really so. The crux of the parable IS that the sons DO the will of the father which IS presented to us as his request that they “go work to day in my vineyard“. Taking this to its spiritual intent we should see that the idea IS that the sons will DO as the Father asks and while the example IS vineyard work, the reality IS that the son will DO whatsoever the Father asks. This then leads us to the end point where the religious leaders ARE equated to the second son while the secular harlots and publicans ARE equated to the first son. The whole parable we reads:
“But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you” (Matthew 21:28-31)
In our ideas of the progressive and the conservative, we should be able to see the world as it was then and still IS today. It IS the church that should be teaching and preaching the reality of agape as this IS defined by the Master but since the Master’s words are relegated as a teaching to the Jews in those days ONLY, His defining ideas ARE become moot. Meanwhile the secular world of harlots and publicans ARE able to sense the worldwide movement toward that Love, that harmony and that Unity the ARE the products of the New Age and many ARE working toward expressions of this. A clear example can be seen in the recent protests against the killing of black men in the streets of America. While there ARE some that took these protests as an opportunity to create havoc by rioting and looting, the vast majority ARE multiracial and multiethnic protestors who assembled across the country to send a message of Love, harmony and Unity and in this we should be able to see the seeds of agape growing. Should we look at the position of many of the country’s leaders in regard to these protests, we would see the division between the progressive and the conservative; the former seeing the growing seeds while the latter sees ONLY the chaos. Should we bring this to the position of much of the church we would see the same and in the position of the progressive we would find the harlots and the publicans that the Master speaks of in His parable. While we DO NOT like to bring politics and current events into our blog posts, these events and many that have followed most clearly show our point regarding the divisions that exist; the divisions that must be overcome if the world IS to find that “glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). So many of the Master’s choices for men ARE found in this comparison of the secular with the self-proclaimed religious; so many ARE found in the individual acceptance of being a progressive or a conservative. We must understand that neither side has performed or IS performing according to the Master’s Truth but, at the same time, we should try to see that the side that IS leaning toward Love, toward harmony and toward Unity IS on the clearer Path to the eternal Truths. ALL must yet “mortify the deeds of the body” and make those clear choices that Jesus presents to us and it IS in this direction that the teaching of the next generations must go. But where DOES this start? It starts with the few who can look past the doctrinal ideas of the churches and seek after the singular Truth of agape; it starts with those who can understand the depth of the apostles’ words. Paul shows us the force of agape as he tells us that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14); he shows us how that ALL commandments ARE “briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Romans 13:9). The force of his words should show us that in this sense of agape ALL else becomes moot and it IS this idea that IS behind his teaching on faith and works; agape IS faith, it IS KNOWING God, and it IS through this the idea of works Truly becomes moot. Works becomes then the reality of “the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22) corresponding with the Apostle James’ words saying that “faith without works is dead“. While Paul shows us the force of agape, in this same chapter of James’ Epistle he shows us the harmony and the Unity of agape albeit in words that ARE NOT understood in this way. James tells us “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” (James 2:20, 8-9). We should note that the idea of convinced in this saying requires a stronger rendering; Thayer’s tells us that the Greek word elegchō which IS rendered here as convinced means: to convict, refute, confute 9.
Vincent tells us that the idea here IS that: the word, which is variously rendered in A. V. [as] tell a fault, reprove, rebuke, convince, while it carries the idea of rebuke, implies also a rebuke which produces a conviction of the error or sin 4. It IS in having NO “respect to persons” that harmony and Unity can come but so long as men separate themselves along racial, political, religious and social lines, this idea of having NO “respect to persons” IS but a far off dream as it has been for 2000 years. Here we should understand that this idea has NO True meaning in the church yet today; few see that this IS a major stumbling block in the Path of Truth and Love and few understand that having “respect to persons” IS the antithesis to the Truth of agape, preventing any sense of True harmony and Unity. Again, it IS the fundamental property of agape: Unity and a Universal vision of the Oneness of the human family, that must be the objective of men. This brings us back again to our selection from Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians where the idea agape of IS elucidated to show us what agape IS and what agape IS NOT. Paul’s words here also show us that without agape, without our expression of Love as the Master defines it, ALL of our religious pursuits ARE worthless and that the man who fails at agape should see himself as DOES Paul who tells us that without agape “I am nothing“. Repeating our selection we read:
“covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not
charityagape, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have notcharityagape, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have notcharityagape, it profiteth me nothing.CharityAgape suffereth long, and is kind;charityagape envieth not;charityagape vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.CharityAgape never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity” (1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:1-13).
In the idea of agape we have the Path to the reality of faith and grace which should ever represent to us the idea of KNOWING God and receiving from the Lord, as revelations and realizations of Truth, ALL that comes to us through our own anointing….our unction or our Soul. While the doctrinal thinker believes that John’s words apply to him as a believer according to his doctrines, the reality IS that the “unction from the Holy One” (1 John 2:20) IS the possession of everyman, a possession that must be revealed and realized. Such revelations and realizations ARE the product of our expression of agape and while these may also be produced through one’s obedience to the commandments, the latter must be according to the intent of those commandments and NOT any of the Jews’ or Christians’ doctrinal assertions regarding their meaning. And we should be careful to understand that the intent IS found in the words of Jesus who extends and expands the depth of Moses writings and the traditional view of the Jews. While the Master’s enhancements ARE mostly found in Matthew’s version of the Sermon on the Mount, they ARE also found scattered throughout the Master’s teaching and the amplifying and clarifying words of His apostles. We should try to see how many of the commandments ARE included in Paul’s saying that we must “mortify the deeds of the body” or which of them ARE included in the idea that we should “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). Can we see the point here? Can we see how that there IS a dual Path to True salvation, Paths that ARE either dismissed or changed by the doctrinal approach to the Lord. We should try to see that it IS our obedience to the law that has been dismissed as works by the doctrines of men which rely upon their nebulous ideas of faith and believing, of pistis and pisteuo; and many outwardly teach that one CAN NOT be saved in this way which IS contrary to the teachings of both the New and the Old Testament. Jesus shows us this as He tells us of the difficulty of following this Path; the Master tells us to “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). In these words we should see the rarity of the man who Truly finds His Kingdom which IS NOT a place after death ONLY but a state of being in Life here in this Earth; a state that was enjoyed by Jesus and many of His apostles. The difficulty IS True and evermore True in the absence of agape which IS the singular concept that can and will lessen one’s reliance upon the rote following of the law. In agape we see our brothers as our brothers, as men for whom the same Path leads to our salvation and this both individual and corporate. In agape we see ourselves as the same, as equal, where there IS NO longer sense of zelos and eritheia which ARE rendered in James Epistle as strife and envying. In zelos and eritheia we DO have another product of agape which IS that we have no sense of emulation nor ARE we any longer inclined to factious divisions such as ARE motivated by such emulation. James tells us that “if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish” (James 3:14-15) and replacing these ideas of “bitter envying and strife” with the ideas of emulation and factious division can help us to better understand our True objective as Souls in this world.
The reality of the rarity that a man will Truly find His Kingdom should NOT be cause for despair; this reality IS a part of the journey of ALL Souls through Life in this world. Any sense of despair IS NOT founded in the Truth but rather in the carnal expectations of the doctrinal thinker who see heaven as an afterlife despite there being NO True scriptural teaching covering this. In the end we DO NOT KNOW what happens when people die and while it IS common in the Christian religions to believe that we have a Soul that survives our Earthly existance, these ideas ARE NOT understood against the desire of men to continue eternally. This desire forms the basis of the doctrinal teachings that the Soul IS the personality of a man and that in the continuing of the Soul is the continuing of the personality. No one can reconcile how that a personality with ALL of it faults can enter into the perfection of the Kingdom of God. That there IS an afterlife IS True but we should see it NOT in accord with the idea that there IS an ALL Loving God who judges and separates men into Christians and non-Christians sending the one to heaven and the other to ‘eternal damnation’. The natural working of the Plan of God IS a seamless and efficient Way that works through the Earthly lives of men and pushes them forward as Souls adapting and controlling the Life of vanity until it reaches the reality of agape in form. It IS never expected that this would take ONLY one Lifetime and the deepest reality of the process IS ONLY KNOWN by those who have journeyed from a Life grounded in vanity to that “glorious liberty of the children of God“. Motivated by the reality of agape, everyman has the opportunity to Repent, to Transform and then to be Redeemed and it IS this final step that prepares a man for True conscious Life sans the body; here we should try to see that this freedom IS from ALL things worldly except a sense of ongoing service to the Plan as a Soul in this world and thereafter. We close today with our trifecta which IS the Way and we should understand that in the idea of keeping His commandments we have the reality of our expression of agape. The Master tells us:
- “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).
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
- * Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
