ON LOVE; PART MXLII
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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 nature of spiritual fruit as this compares with the more carnal ideas that DO flow into the minds of men, ideas that can and DO help to change the course of human evolution. It IS NOT difficult to point to the lives of those many men and women who came among with profound ideas in science, philosophy and even religion but to our point, while these lives were expressing fruit, this was NOT necessarily “the fruit of the Spirit” which IS the expression of the man whose Life IS Truly focused upon the things of God and, by measure the man who strives.
The men and women who have come among us with such fruit that offers changes in the lives of others ARE, as ARE we ALL, Souls and, by virtue of their own prior accomplishments we should be able to see how that they had become somewhat advanced and privileged with the task that they were born to accomplish. We should try to understand here that there IS a great rule at play in the lives of men and that rule IS that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11). It IS under this rule that we should be able to see and to understand that it IS NOT our God who dictates the rich and the poor, the brilliant and the dim, nor IS it our God who places one man in abject poverty in a ‘third’ world country while another finds his place in a free society of abundance.
It IS NOT our God who is the moving force behind these things but it can be said that it IS the God that IS within each man in this Earth that IS that force. This God Within IS the Soul, the spiritual man who IS ever part and parcel of God. It IS this Soul that the Apostle John tells us of as the anointing, the chrisma, saying “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (1 John 2:20). It IS this KNOWING and closeness to the Plan of God that IS the nature of the very Soul and it IS this KNOWING that brings Souls into incarnation based upon their accomplished ability to somewhat control and express through that form.
There IS much mystery in these ideas but we should try to see that this IS the same mystery that Jesus speaks of and that this IS the same mystery that the Apostle Paul tells us IS “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). It IS this “Christ in you” that IS the anointing, the unction, the Soul, and we should remember that while christos IS always rendered as Christ by most ALL translations, it has the same meaning of anointing and IS literally “the anointed” as this IS framed in the gospels. When we can see the Soul, the anointing and the unction, as the Christ Within and understand that it IS he that DOES “know all things“, we can then better understand the progressive nature of Life in this world and the ways and the reasons for much of what happens here in this world where so much IS the product of happenstance.
The Master shows us this in His most misunderstood words saying “Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:2-5). In this we should see the greater idea that IS Life in this Earth and the role of happenstance. While there ARE some spiritual ideas that come as premonitions and Life saving avoidance of things, these ARE NOT at the hand of God per se, nor at the hand of ‘angels’; they ARE rather at the hand of the God Within who sees and KNOWS what lies beyond and who can at times offer that prompting that saves and which IS heard over the clamor of Life.
Jesus shows us the randomness of being among the Galilaeans that were caught up in Pilate’s plot; He shows us also the fate of the eighteen whose only hope would be avoidance. But His message IS muddled; first because of its parabolic nature and second because the focus of men and their doctrines say otherwise as we read here from John Gill who, speaking of the first part says: God’s judgments are a great deep, and not to be fathomed by us, nor is it to be easily known, when any thing befalls persons in a way of judgment; there is nothing comes by chance, but every thing by the wise disposal of divine providence 8. In this thinking the whole point IS missed.
The point IS of course the happenstance of Life and the reality of the Way of God….that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:24). In this reality there IS NO picking and choosing who will live and who will die nor IS there any picking and choosing regarding any other human fate; each Life is under the providence of his own Soul and IS subject to the ways of men and of whatsoever happens in this world. The man who crosses the street and get killed by a speeding car should be seen in the same light as if he were one of the eighteen.
While there can seem to be the appearance that should a man Repent that he will be freed from such happenstance, the reality can be seen simply by looking at the world. Men and women live and die regardless of their own spiritual ideas of Repentance. It IS in the reality of True Repentance as Jesus teaches us, it IS in the reality of that change of focus away from the things of the self and the self in this world and onto the things of God, that a man IS freed. It IS in one’s freedom “from the bondage of corruption” (Romans 8:21) that the whole idea of perishing IS diminished. He will still die if he is there as the tower falls but until that time he IS alive spiritually….he IS NO longer lost and he carries this forward in his death. If we can see this idea of perishing, which IS rendered from the Greek word apollumi, in more spiritual terms we can see deeper into Jesus’ parabolic idea of being lost in the vanity which IS the illusion in which most ALL men live. In the end we should see how that without True Repentance a man will NOT KNOW the Truth and thereby NOT KNOW the reality of what happens here in this world.
It IS the Soul, the True man, that reveals ALL Truth to the consciousness of the awakened man in this world and it IS in keeping His words that this revelation becomes possible. It is in this revelation that the man in the world can realize those spiritual mysteries and understand them in human terms; and it IS this revelation that IS the Truth of the grace of God. The reality that these ideas, the revelations and the resultant realizations of Truth, come to us in the Presence of God IS the KEY that IS unlocked by the trifecta; not in reading it but in DOING it or striving to keep His words. While doctrines may disregard Jesus’ words in favor of their interpretations of the words of the Apostle Paul, the clear Truth of the trifecta remains; we read 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).
In the most clear and plain language the Master refutes so much of that which doctrines cling to yet this flaw in their mostly carnal approach to God IS NOT seen. While the intent IS sound, to approach God for forgiveness and salvation, the method is the creation of men. This was True of the Jews whose doctrines Jesus often speaks against and this IS True throughout most ALL of Christianity unbeknown to those who live by their doctrines. Men DO NOT and have NOT seen the Truth of the Master’s words over their desire to live in this Earth as men. They have formulated their doctrines according to this desire, and, in so DOING, they have squashed many alternative approaches and have called them heresies, treating their proponents as criminals based in the authority that they had given to themselves.
In Jesus’ words there IS NO living in the world as men; there IS ONLY keeping His words as the Way which leads to the Truth, which brings men the Life that IS free “from the bondage of corruption“. In this is the True realization by the man in this world of his own eternal Life. It IS the Soul, the True man, that reveals ALL Truth the the consciousness of the awakened man and we should understand here that there IS very little awakening found in the teachings of doctrines that ARE NOT founded in the reality of keeping His words.
It IS this freedom that begins our selection from Galatians from which we have been studying. This freedom IS here rendered as liberty from the Greek word eleutheria while the sense of being made free from the trifecta IS from eleutheroo; both of these words are from the root word eleutheros and ALL of these words can be seen in variations of the same idea. Liberty IS freedom and we should remember that the same word IS used again by Paul and rendered as delivered in the full idea that we cite above which reads “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).
The sense of ALL these ideas IS the same and the reality of liberty, freedom and this deliverance IS founded in the Master’s words above saying that “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“. And, in the apostle’s words from Galatians, we have a warning, several warnings to be sure, that when one gets that sense of liberty to which he has “been called“, that he should be sure that it IS used to “by love serve one another” and NOT to serve the self. We read Paul’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 should note here that the idea of being called as this IS used in doctrines IS yet another nebulous idea. In the idea that a man IS called to do such and such or to be so and so, doctrines show the idea that it IS God who IS speaking and calling. The greater reality is found in our thoughts above however; it IS the Soul the calls, that ever prompts, and this calling IS NOT in the ways that this IS commonly understood. The Soul, the God and Christ Within, prompts everyman to seek and to follow the eternal Truths which ARE the mysteries of Life and of the Kingdom and leaves it to the personality, the mind and the emotions of the man in this world, to live whatsoever Life will express these Truths.
All too often the ideas of the personality ARE seen by the man in the world as such a calling and while these may originate in the prompting of the Soul, it IS still the ideas of the personality for the man who DOES NOT seek to change his focus to the Truth of the things of God. The apostle tells us that to “by love serve one another” IS the expression of Life for the man who IS freed from “the bondage of corruption” and we should not forget just how one IS freed and how that ALL this works together.
Here we find another sense of duality and there ARE so many in the words of the Master and His apostles. This idea of serving comes from the Greek word douleuo which the lexicon tells us means: to be a slave, serve, do service 2. If we contrast this to the idea of “the bondage of corruption“, we will find the kindred word douleia which IS a derivative of douleuo. Can we see here how that bondage and service ARE connected? Can we see the clear intent of Jesus’ words saying “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).
We should see Jesus’ words here in regard to being the slave and in terms of bondage and try to understand that one must be bound to either the Lord, as we see in the Great Commandment, or one must be bound to the ways of the world which the Master shows us as: “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:34). We DID NOT get back to our review and expansion of the ideas behind the Greek words in Paul’s list and we will endeavor to continue this in the next post. We close here today with these words from a Bob Dylan song:
you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody,
It may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody
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
- 2 from New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 8 Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com
