IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 584

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON LOVE; PART CLXXIII

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:1-15).

We are travelling on business today and in the event that we do not get the time to complete this essay, you will have my reason for the shortness or the abrupt ending . In the last post we continued with our discussion of the words of the Apostle Paul regarding how we as disciples must act and this from his words that lead up to his saying:

 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8).

It is in these last words that we find those things upon which a man who is or would be a disciple should focus and this the apostle tells us in his closing words “think on these things” and it is this that brought us back to the words of the Master who tells us that we should “Take no thought” for the things of the world which are, as He illustrates them, inclusive of:  your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on (Matthew 6:24). This is complimented in the Master’s words according to the Apostle Luke where we read also “neither be ye of doubtful mind” (Luke 12:29). As we have said, this list IS NOT to be seen as the totality of those things that a man is to “Take no thought” but is rather to be understood by example that we should not be focused upon the things of the world and this, in His words, includes ALL things pertinent to one’s Life as we read in the Apostle Matthew’s writing and the the things of mind which, according to His other words, are the indicator of the True faith of the disciple.

So too are the ideals set forth by Paul who tells us of those things that should be focused upon and again this is not intended to be a complete list, only an example of the focus and the attention of the disciple and those who would be disciples. These include the High Ideals of Truth, Honesty which is rendered as Nobel and in the Catholic version Modest; to these the apostle adds things that are Just which we find also rendered as Right, Upright and Righteous.  Continuing we find the High Ideal of things that are Pure which of course must include ALL thoughts and actions by ourselves and toward others by any and this is rendered by some as Holy. Can we so far see the relationships to the Wisdom from above of James and the Fruit of the Spirit that Paul elucidates elsewhere? Paul continues to tell us of the importance of the Lovely in which we see our reality of the Good, the Beautiful and the True, and where we see ALL things of the Spirit and of the Kingdom as being in this state of Beautiful and Lovely if for no other reason than the Peace that they bring into the working consciousness of ALL who are so focused; most all render this word as Lovely and Beautiful while a few stretch the understanding to those things that can be Loved  or Admired and we can here add that in a Creation where we see God as LOVE, there should be a hint that ALL things of God are to be the focus of the disciple and the aspirant.

We next come to the idea of Good Report, here there should be a general understanding of the idea that the apostle is trying to get across to the disciples and aspirants to whom he is addressing this remark. Some render this as Admirable, others as Value and yet others as Good Fame but these all take the idea out of the realm of being both within and without the man and even to a lowering of the intended standard that Paul is elucidating. This is the only place in the New Testament that this phrase is used and we should try to see its relevance in the words that precede it as ALL these, Truth, Honesty, Justice, Pure and Lovely are the things that flow forth through the man in from from the Soul….ALL are of Good Report and the phrase here can be see to amplify these and to add to them from the perspective that we note above, that these idea are not the totality but rather ALL things that can fit into their scope and this from the broadest perspective.

The last two ideas are as well ideas that should encourage the disciple and the aspirant to think in as broad a set of terms as possible when contemplating the Good, the Beautiful and the True and these are the inclusion of any Virtue which we should see as the reality of Soul Life expressed here on the Earth. By example, that one tells the Truth on an occasion is not the Virtue of the aspirant; the Virtue of the  aspirant is that his thoughts must ALWAYS be on Truth in ALL of its possible manifestations. The apostle then adds for us Praise and this word does not fit well here in this rendering. Others render this as Praiseworthy and the Catholic Bible calls this Praise of discipline but we have the same problem here with these as they do not fit into the stream of ideas that the apostle gives us. The lexicon tells us that the Greek word here is epainos which they define as

approbation, commendation, praise ² and which we see as an ideal that that is rather restricted to Life in form. We will pursue this in greater detail in the next post.

We leave again the Fifteen Points of Emmet Fox and will try to get to them again in the next post.

I Am Really In Truth: ‡

1. If – I always look for the best in each person, situation and thing.
2. If – I resolutely turn my back on the past, good or bad and live only in the present & future
3. If – I forgive everybody without exception, no matter what he may have done; and if I then forgive MYSELF whole-heartedly.
4. If – I regard my job as sacred and do my day’s work to the best of my ability (whether I like it or not).
5. If – I take every means to demonstrate a healthy body and harmonious surroundings for myself.
6. If – I endeavor to make my life of as much service to others as possible, without interfering or fussing.
7. If – I take every opportunity wisely to spread the knowledge of Truth to others.
8. If – I rigidly refrain from personal criticism, and neither speak nor listen to gossip.
9. If – I devote at least a quarter of an hour a day to prayer and meditation.
10. If – I read at least seven verses of the Bible everyday.
11. If – I specifically claim spiritual understanding of myself every day.
12. If – I train myself to give the first thought on waking to God.
13. If – I speak the Word for the whole world every day, say at noon.
14. If – I PRACTICE, the Golden Rule of Jesus instead of merely admiring it. He said, “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” The important point about the Golden Rule is that I am to practice it whether the other fellow does so or not.
15. If – above all, I understand that whatever I see is but a picture which can be changed for the better by Scientific Prayer.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

Aspect of God	Potency	Expressed as Fire	Aspect of Man	In Relation to the Christ
GOD, The Father	Will or Power	Electric Fire	Spirit or Life	Life
Son, The Christ	Love and Wisdom	Solar Fire	Soul or Christ Within	Truth
Holy Spirit	Light or Activity	Fire by Friction	Life Within the Form	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:

Today we repeat again the Great Invocation as our Quote of the Day.

From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.

From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.

From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men–
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.

From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.

Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.

This prayer is a part of our Prayers and Meditations section and there is much information about it there and in our discussion of it in the Quote of the Day section of In the Words of Jesus parts 128-132

The above Invocation or Prayer does not belong to any person or group but to all Humanity. The beauty and the strength of this Invocation lies in its simplicity, and in its expression of certain central truths which all men, innately and normally, accept—the truth of the existence of a basic Intelligence to Whom we vaguely give the name of God; the truth that behind all outer seeming, the motivating power of the universe is Love; the truth that a great Individuality came to earth, called by Christians, the Christ, and embodied that love so that we could understand; the truth that both love and intelligence are effects of what is called the Will of God; and finally the self-evident truth that only through humanity itself can the Divine Plan work out.

Like the Lord’s Prayer, this invocation is a World Prayer which is as all that a prayer is intended to be. It is a prayer for the uplifting of the Human Family out of the mire of materialism and selfishness. The Lord’s Prayer asks nothing for the individual praying it but asks that its benefits be for US and for WE which is why it was given by the Christ as a prayer and as a model over 2000 years ago. This invocation is also attributed to the Christ who, as He promised, has never left us; He, through channels that we do not readily understand, has Himself instructed His disciples to distribute this prayer and to encourage its use as a world prayer and as an aid in preparing the world for His return.

The first three stanzas of this prayer should be understood as reflecting the effective potencies of the Trinity which is God and which, when brought down to an individual level, the Trinity which is Man. His Will, His Love and His Light we should seen as the Potent Powers of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ‡  From The Fifteen Points by Emmet Fox; © 1932 HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• ² from New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com