Monthly Archives: July 2012

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part CLXXII

We have completed for now our review of the last lines from the three sayings of the Master that we have been discussing. In each of these are cautions and instructions for right living and both of these are required for the man who desires discipleship and the Truth of the Kingdom of God. While required on side of us aspirants seeking to come “into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21), these ideas of caution and instruction should be understood by ALL as the realization of the True meanings of these sayings which is of import to ALL men’s freedom from the illusion and the glamour that govern Life in this world. When we understand the True nature of the heart and the treasures thereof, we can begin to think about what it is that we entertain in consciousness as men in this world of form. When we understand that we are Truly serving something or someone in most ALL that we do we can begin to the think about the reality of serving Truth which endures forever instead of the elusiveness of the things of this world which, when we have them, cause us only to want more. Both of these thoughts reflect on the duality of Life and a realization that it is necessary for a man to see this duality working out in his Life and in the world; it is this sense of duality that forces a man to choose between two great forces…..God and mammon. The one, mammon, a man is born into and in this birth the man is “made subject to vanity” in the world; “not willingly” the Apostle Paul continues but according to the Plan “of him who hath subjected the same in hope” (Romans 8:20) and this is our God. We have discussed these sayings from Paul in great detail over the last several weeks and we should remember that in these words is an encapsulated version of the whole of the Life of man on the Earth, that we are born into this Life, subject to vanity which is the illusion and the glamour of the world by the Plan of God and for the purpose that we are destined to achieve which is to be “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God“. Why, we do not KNOW and, except for the hint we get here from Paul, we have much yet to discover. The apostle tells us regarding our deliverance that we are, each of us, “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” which is the bringing of the Power and the Love of the Soul, the Christ Within, in ALL his fullness to dwell in this body and this personality. We should here remember Vincent’s words on the idea of adoption lest we fall into the doctrinal approach; Vincent tells us, speaking about the Roman understanding of adoption, 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 Father⁴. It is in this ONENESS that we realize the Kingdom and are able to express His Love through form and this idea of adoption is but a word tool to show us this High Calling as, in Truth, ALL men are Sons of God.

Here then we are as men in form encompassed by the mammon of the world and subject to the vanity, the illusion and the glamour, of it all and we should KNOW that it is by the Plan of God and by the sacrifice of the Spirit that IS man that we, as the creature formed of Soul, body and personality, are the one that is “subjected……in hope“, subjected to the vanity, in the expectation that we will be “delivered from the bondage of corruption” and, as we say earlier of our objective as aspirants, delivered “into the glorious liberty of the children of God“. After spending many days on this saying by Paul to the Romans, we are still finding newer and better ways of expressing the Truths that are contained herein; Truths that can take us a long way toward our better understanding of ourselves and our brothers in form today. The Master tells us of so much that can help us in this same endeavor and we should always KNOW that whatever we can understand about ourselves helps us to understand our God and our relationship to Him and our helps us to understand our fellowman as well.

The Master tells us of the pitfalls of Life in form and of the spelndor of Life in the Kingdom and tells us as well that the Kingdom IS here and now because “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21) and this is, as we have said, a saying that is not appreciated nor understood by the masses of men and by the church which has taken on the name of the One who spoke it. There are however many who do get it and it is to these that the burden of exposition must fall and this should be taken in the positive tone that it is given. Many of the Master’s sayings are not understood or improperly understood as they relate to the man in form and these that we have been discussing are among the most revealing; this is especially True of the last lines that we have discussed in our last posts, last lines that contain that caution and that instruction that can wake a man in form to the presence of the Christ Within. For clarity these are:

• “for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45).
• “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21).
• “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).

In each of these last lines is the full force of the preceding verses and in the proper interpretation of the idea of heart as the consciousness of the man and in the right understanding to the Master’s idea of treasure as that upon which a man focuses his Life; in these we should be able to see the two sides of the following statement regarding God and mammon. Again we need to see that this word we translate as evil is not the evil that so many believe it is; it is not the wanton murder and disregard for others of which the Master speaks only but it is in reference to the simple fact of focus upon the world of things as well, it is focus upon mammon. Much like the understanding of the Presence of the Kingdom of God, it is our duty to correct the misconceptions of the Master’s words in this respect as well; to show that the abundance of the consciousness of the man is the same as his treasure which is that which is made important to him and all of this, if worldly in nature, can and should be seen as mammon. We have long professed that the entirety of the Master’s teachings is directed at making of each man a disciple and it is in this context that we should see mammon as well; can we consider mammon to be these things which relate to the prevention of discipleship? The Master tells us that:

• “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“. From Matthew’s rendition of this we learn that the idea of hate is more that one must Love these people less than the Christ and, from our perspective here today, the Christ Within who is our own representative of God in this conscious Life in form. Note the coldness of the idea of these people and note also the Master’s words when confronted with the idea that His own people were come to see Him. The exchange goes thus: “Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Matthew 12:47-50). Can we see that He asks for nothing more than what He does Himself?
• “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple“. The understanding of bearing one’s cross is said to be in relation to the crucifixion; Vincent tells us that it is used anticipatively⁴ but there is no certainty in this view. To be sure this cross is a thing that one must bear and we should likely see it as we portray our responsibility here, that the burden of the gospel should fall upon those who understand the teachings of the Master and the importance of His words. We should see that the burden of the cross IS NOT suffering as it is painted by many but it is the responsibility to promote the gospel of the Kingdom of God above ALL else. This IS how the idea is offered to us here and now.
• “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath , he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27, 33). Here we have a saying that is largely ignored by the organized church insofar as actually doing so; one cannot dispute the word which is here forsaketh and in other translations renounceth and which means literally that one should give up ALL. Perhaps the problem here is that the Christian world does not believe that being a disciple of the Master is the objective but this would only be because they do not understand that by keeping His words and following Him and the promptings of the Christ Within one is automatically a disciple. This IS the method; the choice IS in doing and not in being. There are many who believe that they are saved and that they are delivered by something short of this precept of the Master and who build castles in the sky by way of doctrine to cover their inability to forsake and of these we have spoken and have painted the picture of the covering by doctrine those parts of the Life of man that he does not, in the flesh, want to give up. To this end we repeat the sayings that we ended with in the last post; the one from the Master’s word telling us of the nature of the ways and the things of man and the other from the Apostle James who amplifies the Master’s words in his own inimitable way:
  • “And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15).
  • “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, 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).

In the whole of the Master’s sayings on discipleship we should see the overall intent of His instructions which can be understood as first doing that which He did Himself and showed us to do in His action and in His words and second that He gives us the clear understanding that if one desires to be His disciple that NO THING of the world can mean anything to him as all; the disciple must see through the illusion and the glamour and see the temporal nature of ALL things worldly, be they relationships, riches, or pleasures. Here again we must get the picture of the difference between God and mammon which we can paint in the words of one of our Ancient Mantrams:

Lead us, O Lord,

From darkness to Light;

From the unreal to the Real;

From death to Immortality.

Can we understand that the darkness and the unreal and the death are the ways of the world, the ways of mammon and that the Light and the Real and the Immortality are the ways of God, of the Soul and the Christ Within and that when we are able to let that Light of the Soul overcome the darkness of illusion we are at the same time letting in the Reality of the Kingdom and the realization of our essential Immortality; these then become our way of Life and our understanding of ourselves and our fellowman. When we can realize our essential divinity we can then see that same in our brothers and this is the foundation of that Love which the Master teaches.

It was our intent to move on from these subjects in this post but this did not happen and since we are here let us post again those sayings that have had our attention of late and that have given us much understanding of the Master’s teachings on the heart, on its treasure and on the nature of mammon.

• “For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:44-45).
• “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” (Matthew 6:19-21).
• “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).

While the last lines of each of this is of great importance the overall saying is for us the explanation of each and while the caution and the teaching of the last lines are profound, the words leading to these can help us to understand the whys as the Master paints them in parabolic fashion.

We will try to get to our next subject which is an in depth look at the Quote of the Day below which we have been carrying for many days now and, as a way to lead us to these ideas we post again the Master’s reality of the way of Love and our own interpretation of what that Love is:

For clarity let us end here with the commandments, the Greatest commandments, as pronounced by the Christ, our Master, along with our understanding of the idea involved and the addition of His helpful saying for our understanding of it ALL.

When we understand the idea of keeping His words and we should at the same time understand that these words on Love are painted by the Master as of great importance:

“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 12:30-31).

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.

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)

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.

We leave this again as our Quote of the Day with the intention of discussing it in some detail in one of our next few posts.

We have left this saying for several days now and want to here say that within this reflection is the reality of a True Son of God, a disciple if you will, and it is by accomplishing these things that a men can be seen as disciples and, for those who try to achieve, those who strive, as aspirants.

Evening Reflection

May the Power of the One True God flow through His group of all true servers;

May the Love of the Christ characterize the lives of all who seek to aid in His work;

May I fulfill my part in the one work through self-forgetfulness, harmlessness and right speech

(Evening Reflection)

• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888