Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CCII
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).
Our words below depict for us the journey to the reality of the Kingdom of God and while this looks to be a very tough road based upon the words that we are using here, there is really no difference from our normal depiction except perhaps by degree. The True Way to the Kingdom is to keep His words, ALL of them, as in this, one IS born again, one IS made perfect, and one IS righteous. Nothing changes, the criteria remains the same except there are additional words to describe our way to the Kingdom and to discipleship which we understand as being the same in effort although perhaps not the same in effect. This is ALL so because as men in form there IS ever the personality to deal with and until that final stage that we see below as Transfiguration, the over coming of the form nature and the world, one may not see himself as a disciple and this likely depends upon the unique nature of the individual. Generally though there is a constant growth as we saw in yesterday’s words from the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians where, speaking to aspirants and disciples, he acknowledges their journey toward perfection and yet cautions them on regression and on being led to the ‘easier’ way found in the doctrines of others. The apostle paints for them and us a picture of moving from the old, from the world and the ways of the world into the new and tells us ALL that if we Truly hear Him and are taught by Him then we will have forgotten the old and will have “put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” which is of course the Soul which is the new man from the perspective of the Life in form. This is in the apostle’s words being “renewed in the spirit of your mind” which is for us the stature of the man who IS focused upon the things of God, who has repented and been transformed.
REPENTANCE, TRANSFORMATION AND REDEMPTION LEAD US TO TRANSFIGURATION
We should see then that repentance and transformation are found in the change of focus and, in our understanding, that the change IS repentance and the effect of repentance is the noticeable effect of this in the Life of the man….he is transformed. We should understand here that this change of focus IS inclusive of the new attitude that one has in keeping His words and NOT in the simplistic view of believing in or believing on the Master and we say this from the perspective that we have developed with the help of Vincent, a perspective that shows us that keeping His words and believing in or on Him are Truly the same thing as he tells us:
To believe in, or on, is more than mere acceptance of a statement. It is so to accept a statement or a person as to rest upon them, to trust them practically; to draw upon and avail one’s self of all that is offered to him in them. Hence to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is not merely to believe the facts of His historic life or of His saving energy as facts, but to accept Him as Savior, Teacher, Sympathizer, Judge; to rest the soul upon Him for present and future salvation, and to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life.4
We should see here that same thing that the Apostle James tells us regarding His words as he says in ALL clarity: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). In these words we can see that by believing only as is commonly understood and NOT keeping His words we are deceived which can be seen then as being in the world and subject to the vanity, the illusion and the glamour thereof. Focus then brings us to His words and this is True whether we read His words or not as we do have this KNOWING and understanding of the Good, the Beautiful and the True inherent in our True being, in our Souls. Seeing then that repentance is the beginning, we can likely understand why this idea is at the forefront of the gospels; in the words of the Baptist and in the words of the Master at the beginning of their ministries as we discussed a few posts back. The word repentance is not forgotten however as it is highlighted throughout the Master’s words as a singularly important factor for the ‘sinner’ or the man focused heretofore on the self and the things of the world. We see this in the various sayings of the Master that tell us:
- “From that time Jesus began to preach , and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17) which shows us the importance of repentance as the starting point in coming to Him and thereby to God.
- “But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13). Here we see the reality that this IS His mission, to call on all who are focused upon the self and the things of the world to change and, while some of those that the Master interacts with and speaks of sin are doing real or moral wrongs, NOT ALL are and we should understand this in His words:
- Jesus says to the man “which had an infirmity thirty and eight years……Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee” (John 5:5, 14) and here we have no indication of sin as most think that they KNOW it; this infirmity could be from when he was a small child.
- Jesus says to the woman who “was taken in adultery, in the very act……Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more” (John 8:4, 11). Can we say what the Master’s intent here is? can we say that He is saying to here that there should be no more adultery or that she should repent and change her focus away from the self as that is what put here into this position.
- Speaking to the Pharisees who are not sinners in the normal context of the word “Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth” (John 9:41). If one can see it, the point here is that these Pharisees are not focused upon the ways and the things of God as if they were so focused they would recognize the Master and understand; they are focused on themselves and their own lives in the world and this IS their sin. The Pharisees are blinded by the illusion and the glamour of their own position and their own sense of righteousness which the Master sees and remarks on as we read in Luke’s Gospel: “And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted ” (Luke 18:9-14). Can we see the point here regarding sin and the world?
- “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here” (Matthew 12:41). This story of Jonas is an interesting one, not from the perspective of the whale but from the perspective of repentance; this part goes thus: “Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me…….And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying , Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not” (Jonah 1:1-2, 3:2-10). Do we see the complete idea of True repentance, true change from the old way to the new and as we read here it is the people of Nineveh as a city that repents and it is also the Lord Jehovah. Can we see here that this repentance IS the people’s change from the ways of the world to the word of God.
- The importance of repentance and the totality of the mission of the Master to call man to repentance is further illustrated in the mission of the Apostles who are sent out by Jesus. We read in Mark’s Gospel “And they went out , and preached that men should repent” (Mark 6-12) and we should see this in the alternate wording of the other synoptic gospels which say “And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where” (Luke 9:6) and “And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 10:7). We should see the symmetry here; in Mark we have the word repentance while in Matthew only the second half of the Master’s saying above “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” and, in Luke, this same is called “preaching the gospel“.
- Again attesting to the importance of repentance from the perspective of the Kingdom of God we read: “I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance……..Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:7, 10). We should note here as well that this saying is followed by the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke’s Gospel, a True story of repentance as it affects us here on the Earth.
This IS repentance; this IS the change of focus that takes one from his focus upon the self and the world of things to focus upon the things of God. As we have said and as is an integral part of our essays, the fundamental change IS that we look away from the world and that we begin, in earnest, to keep His words. This is what we should see in the repentance that the Master teaches and in most every instruction that He gives there is this sense of change, this repentance, incorporated.
As we have noted in an earlier post on this same topic, this repentance IS a change in one’s consciousness and a thing that is realized by the man in form as such. We sense that we are no longer looking to the world for comfort and pleasure but we are looking the the Christ Within, the Soul, for Peace and the realization of the Good, the Beautiful and the True. This is but the beginning of one’s journey however and not the end and this beginning may come to a man in fits and starts but, if he is sincere and if he is persistent he will succeed in letting in more and more of that Light of the Soul. There is no rule on how this is to work and for each man there is likely a different Way which depends not only on this Life in form today but also the accumulated spiritual collateral built up over many many lives. The Master give us some idea of our reality as He tells us, repeating the words of the Prophet Esaias that: “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). Now the word used here is converted which is from the Greek word epistrepho and is rendered as turn again in the Revised Version and of which Vincent tells us: Be converted (epistreywsin). Rev., turn again; ejpi, to or toward, strefw, to turn; with the idea of their turning from their evil toward God 4. The sense here is the same as repentance and this is highlighted for us by the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) as well which renders this as: “and do t’shuvah, so that I could heal them”. This same thought “do t’shuvah“then is used as the CJB translation of other words that are rendered as repentance in our King James Version. Our point here is to say that this saying by the Master has the same meaning of repentance that we are discussing and the healing here IS the change of focus to the things of God as offered to us by our own relationship with the God Within; it is the Soul that we must hear and the Soul that we must see or better perceive and it is in this focus that we are converted and we are healed.
The next part in our sequence for attaining the Kingdom is that transformation that we must experience as men in the world. To this point our change has been in realization and in understanding as our personality is made to accept the consciousness from above as opposed to the consciousness having to accept the personality from below. This IS a radical change as it is bringing the realizations and the understanding of repentance to fruition in the Life of the man in the world. To explain we should try to see that for the man in the world, his consciousness and his awareness, are the product of his personality which are his mind and emotions. The changed man functions however by different rules; here his consciousness, his awareness, is the product of the Light of the Soul and it is this Light that now controls the personality, the mind and the emotions. In the first we have the personality in the world controlling the Life according to the things of the world and in the latter we have the personality being controlled by the Light from above. In the first the consciousness is yet lost in the illusion and the glamour in which it is cast and is subject to the whims of the personality, while in the latter the consciousness sees clearly in the Light from above and feeds the personality with this Light.
Granted this is difficult to explain and the words are difficult to assemble in a way that expresses these Truths but, as a man repents and is transformed, he will understand and realize these things in his own way. We close this for today with this from Paul: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post and again try to finish with our sayings on discipleship 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
