Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CXCVIII
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
GoodWill IS Love in Action
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren” (James 1:12-16).
Understanding the True meaning of redemption is likely something that will not happen until our vision is cleared of the murky ways of the world. In Paul’s words that we reviewed in the last post, he makes a simple statement and then goes on to explain it from the perspective of the man in form who IS an aspirant or a disciple, a man whose focus IS upon the things of God. From his simple words however the early Church Fathers created a doctrine and one that is with us yet today albeit with varying interpretations according to the denomination or sect of the church. Out of context, these words: “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins“, can be seen as saying what they are believed by many to say which is that by the blood of Christ the sins of the world are washed away. As we look at these words we should see the deeper reality of forgiveness and sin as we espouse them, that forgiveness is not of God but is rather the looking past our inadequacies as Souls trying to express divinity but who are at the same time lost in the vanity that mankind IS subjected to….lost in the illusion and the glamour of Life in form. In its purest form and from the perspective of the aspirant, this sin IS this fact of being lost. It is the focus by the man in form upon the things of the world. Perhaps this is not recognized nor seen by the church because it IS the very nature of Life in form, a Life that they believe IS the True Life and a Life that they believe continues sans the body for eternity for the Christian who is redeemed by the Blood of the Christ.
It is ever so difficult for a man in the world to believe things about himself that he normally attributes to others who he may consider as less than him in any way. By example we have the words of the Master who tells us, by repeating the words of the Prophet Isaiah to the people in His day, “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Matthew 13:15). Should we not believe that this can extend to this day? And, can we not see how this is True of each and every one of us who has not achieved the reality that the Christ sends us toward which IS: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). This perfection IS discipleship and this perfection IS one’s attainment of the Kingdom of God. We however, in our self righteous way, see our selves as already beyond the Master’s words of hearing not and seeing not; we believe ourselves hearing and seeing and understanding the reality of the words of His teaching. This IS of course the result of the glamour and the illusion of our lives in this world where we have built doctrines that are authorized by the out of context words that we pick and choose from scripture; and through them we believe that we have been redeemed and that we are saved. We should remember and note here that the Master does understand the reality of our not seeing and not hearing the reality of His words and His actions as He tells this same to His disciples who are also lost from time to time in the illusion and the glamour. He tells them and us who believe that we are worthy: “Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?” as He speaks to them regarding their lack of understanding regarding the “leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod” (Mark 8:15, 18) which the disciples assumed to mean loaves of bread. Of course we KNOW today that He meant their doctrine, their teachings and their rules with can grow in men as in Paul’s saying that “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump“. Can we see the reality of His saying that they should beware of what is around them and pay attention to the reality that IS the Christ and His words and can we see as well how this is just as True today, how we can look past His teachings on Love and on the True ways to the Kingdom in favor of the pronouncements of men on the same subjects and which pronouncements are exceedingly easier to accomplish but at the same time are rather meaningless?
Again we must say here that our words ARE NOT meant to disparage any but rather to put forth what we believe IS the greater reality and the Truer way to accomplish those goals and objective of our Life here in form. If we are providing a different realty and if we believe that this different reality is more REAL and more in line with the teachings of the Master, then we, by our own pronouncements must show the differences in the teachings that are presented as compared to what we see as the way that they are understood. Again, these words are intended to help to set the reader and ourselves on a Truer Path to God and while saying this we must also repeat again that we take no authority for what we say, we say what we believe based upon our discernment of the words of the Christ and the Wisdom that we believe that we are receiving from above; it is up to each reader to find for himself that there is Truth in what we say. We do not say here The Truth, but Truth as we cannot even conceive the wondrous Truth that IS God and which stands behind ALL that we see and hear.
Returning to our thoughts on redemption where we have Paul’s words to the Colossians, we should see that there is no real meaning given for His words on this that is not is some way related to their own actions and through this, our own actions. We repeat the apostles words here for clarity:
“Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created , that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister” (Colossians 1:12-23).
We should try to see that in the single word blood we have the entirety of the Life, death and resurrection of the Master and not just the blood of the crucifixion which is what much of the Christian world is fixated upon. The apostle begins by acknowledging that they are already partakers in the inheritance, beneficiaries of the Glory of God which is inherent in the Light of the Soul as it flows through Life in form; it IS this Light of Love and Power that becomes, by degree, the expression of the disciple in the world. This is True in the apostle’s Life and to some degree in the lives of those to whom he writes as aspirants and disciples. He is thanking God for this in their lives and for the Power from above that has allowed them to be “translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son“. It is in this word translated that we should see a True reality of redemption; the apostle is translated and he is writing to those who he believes are translated as well and by his words we see that this IS the method of entering His Kingdom. We should see translation as that change in attitude that creates a disciple of the Lord, that change in focus from the things of the world to the things of God and in this we should try to understand the reality of repentance; repentance IS the change of heart, the change in the consciousness that is required and that only comes from that change of focus to the things of God; translation IS the result of that change, that repentance in the Life of the man. A new man, a new attitude, a new focus.
Redemption then can be seen as a continuation of this process of repentance, the change of focus, translation, the result of that change as we find His Kingdom and then redemption which is the culmination and the reality of a functioning Son of God in the Earth. In this point of redemption ALL things past are gone and there is no more the man in form in the world but rather the True man who has overcome the worldly consciousness and IS expressing his divinity through form. This can be seen as a version of the Transfiguration and this IS an event of the Highest Importance in the one’s journey through Life in this world. We should remember here that we are told by the Apostle John that “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17) and in this we should see that reality, that His journey IS our journey albeit He had overcome ALL before He came to us as the Christ. Similarly the apostle also tells us as disciples that “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2) and here we should try to understand the reference IS not to the Master’s return as much as it is to our own seeing of the Christ Within working through one’s Life; it is here that we see the reality of the Christ and it is here that we see our own reality as well. But none of this is automatic, none is based on any lesser feat than keeping His words which IS our repentance and which leads to translation and results in redemption.
We must remember here that we are brought to this word redemption from another of Paul’s writings, that one that we often use to depict the journey of man through Life in form and which tells us of the vanity, the illusion and the glamour, to which man IS subjected by the Plan of God, his deliverance from this illusion and glamour and the the ultimate reality of redemption as explained in the apostle’s saying that:
“For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:20-23).
Here we have words that we so often discuss and today we can likely see the reality of the end game as the apostle paints this picture for us. We ARE here in form and we are subjected to these ways of the world, these forces of illusion and glamour, “not willingly” but by the very Plan of God. As Souls we are fully expecting, with the Plan of God, that we “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God“, which IS to be our conscious attitude of Life and then, as disciples, as Sons of God, we are waiting for the finality of redemption which the apostle calls “of our body” and which we see as the deliverance of the body from the world of men and of form to the realm of God, purifying it, perfecting it, and changing it as it were a Transfiguration. And what is this adoption that we await? It is not as doctrine portrays it, it is not the way or another way to become a Son of God and this we KNOW from Paul’s perspective as he tells us that we are, as disciples, functioning Sons of God. We see this in his words that come prior to those above to the Romans where he says: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14) and in many like sayings in scripture which include the saying above by John, again to disciples: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God“. Vincent helps us with our understanding of this idea of adoption as he shows us the meaning of this word to the Romans; Vincent tells us: 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 Father” (“Conversion of the Roman Empire”)4. In this we should be able to understand the reality of redemption where the True man as the God Within becomes ONE with his form on the Earth and in this IS the form redeemed.
We close here for today and we will pick up with our conclusion to these thoughts on repentance, translation and redemption in our next post and we will again try to finish our thoughts on discipleship from the two remaining points below.
- “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” (John 8:31).
- “Herein is my Father glorified , that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8).
| Aspect of God |
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:
Leaving again the Great Invocation, we encourage ALL to read and reread it and our comments as in these words can be found the keys to our spiritual reality.
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 see them as the Potent Powers of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit albeit on a much smaller, microcosmic, scale.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
