Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON LOVE; PART CCVI
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).
We spent another day on this theme of Repentance and Transformation as they lead us to Redemption and then to our goal which is Transfiguration. Transfiguration in our understanding is the ultimate achievement for men in form in this world as it signifies that the man has Truly overcome the world as the Master declares for us as He prepares Himself for the Cross. In that time where we read that the Master has been speaking to His disciples by parable or proverb and where He tells them such, He also tells them: “Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:32-33). We should note here that from the Master’s perspective there IS NO time frame attached to this saying and as we can KNOW from whatsoever else we have read regarding His Presence among us, He had ever been in this state having, from His birth, this same ONENESS with the Father that the Apostle Paul speaks to us of saying: “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). We can, even from our rather myopic perspective, understand that this fullness and the Transfiguration are essentially the same as the full potency of the Soul, the Christ Within then flows unrestricted through the form and the personality on the Earth creating that Spiritual Brilliance that the the three apostles see and which they describe as:
- “his raiment became shining , exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them” (Mark 9:3)
- “and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light” (Matthew 17:2).
- “And as he prayed , the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering” (Luke 9:29).
We discuss this in some detail in In the Words of Jesus part 611 and comment that these visions by the three apostles as they are reported for us are their vision of God in man, God in Christ, on this Earth. This IS Transfiguration and this IS from our perspective the Master’s spiritual display of His expression of the “fulness of the Godhead bodily” and we can premise here that this is how He had always looked and that this effect, being spiritual, could not be readily seen by any who where not so prepared. How this works we do not KNOW but it is perhaps a part of the Special Power of the Christ in the world that gave to the three the necessary spiritual eyes that they needed to complete their realization of their own divinity.
Remembering that this idea of “I have overcome the world” has no time frame in the Master’s Life we should try to understand that Jesus is comforting the apostles in telling them things that they had not understood regarding the Kingdom and the Father and hidden in His words is the assurance that as He is not alone, that the Father IS with Him, so then all His words that lead to this point are to tell them that they are not alone as well and that the Father IS with them. This is of course a realization that the apostles need for as we understand the realities of Life in form, the Father is ever one with us as the God Within each man and we should see that while unrealized, He IS still there. It may seem odd that in this discourse that ends in His words “I have overcome the world” there is also His talk that tells His apostles that “These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father” (John 16:25) and, while there is also no time frame here for when “the time cometh” and there is no apparent change in the way He speaks nor the words that the Master is using, the apostles do come to understand. We see this in the apostles words saying “His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God” (John 16:29-30). This is their further realization as men in form of the KNOWLEDGE and the understanding that they had as Souls; a KNOWLEDGE and an understanding that kept them at His side even without the hard fast realization that would eventually come. This is KNOWING that IS present in a man as an aspirant, it is the prompting of the Soul that the man follows and heeds and this is ALL our lesson that tells us that our realization of our own divinity and divine purpose will come from our continued focus upon the things of God. While we ponder this we should understand that this is happening here and now and the the dividing line between KNOWING and NOT KNOWING is found in our degree of Transformation which is defined by our own individual expression of this Light of the Soul through our Life here on this Earth.
REPENTANCE, TRANSFORMATION AND REDEMPTION LEAD US TO TRANSFIGURATION
And so it is with us also; as aspirants we remain at His side, leaning on Him through our own Christ Within and seeking and striving for that greater realization that WILL come so long as we stay the course. In the bible stories of His Life, ALL of His apostles remained at His side except for Judas Iscariot and in his story there is a strange mix of realities the we cannot at this time comprehend. We should note however that Judas IS the “son of perdition” as the Master calls him and in this word we only have the defining terms of doctrine as even the secular dictionaries take us there giving the understanding that in perdition we have: 1. Entire loss or ruin; utter destruction; as the perdition of the Turkish fleet. [In this sense, the word is now nearly or wholly obsolete.] 2. The utter loss of the soul or of final happiness in a future state; future misery or eternal death 1. This is of course based upon doctrine and in this case the secular definitions are more restrictive that are the lexicon and Strong’s and the more modern definitions are similar to those we cite above from Webster. Vincent gives us some help in understanding as he takes the words of the verse: “and none of them is lost , but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12) and gives us this: Is lost – perdition (apwleto – apwleiav). A play of words: “None of them perished, but the son of perishing” (Westcott)4. Here Vincent relates the Greek words that are rendered lost and perdition and this agrees with the notation in the lexicon that says of the Greek Word’s origin: from a presumed derivative of (622)2; and, 622 is rendered as lost. We will deal more with our thoughts on Judas Iscariot as we approach Good Friday but we should note here that the KEY idea here is in the Master’s words saying about Judas’s actions: “that the scripture might be fulfilled“. For today our idea here is that we understand that through presumably harsh periods of doubt and uncertainty, His apostles remained at His side and here we too can shine as Lights in the world.
This then is the nature of Transformation, that we shine as spiritual lights in the world and this is done by our continual striving and is evidences by our continual focus upon the things of God which result is our thoughts and our actions in the world of men. As we progress from Transformation to Transformed in which the latter word is the end of our process of Transforming, we approach that higher stage that we have called Redemption. Looking at this has we have been, we should try to see that the ideas of Repentance and Transformation are internal to the Life of the aspirant; they cover his thoughts and his attitudes and his focus while we can see Redemption as the outward expression of this same Light to a relative degree where the entirety of the body and the personality are quickened if we can use such a word. Redemption IS the fruit of Transformation. We should not misunderstand here; the stages of Repentance and Transformation also have an effect on the Life of the man in the world but they are at the same time purely on a personal level and this while the Light of the Soul becomes a factor in the Life of a man. Once Transformed however there is no longer that internalizing of this Light with its ‘seepage’ into our active daily lives but rather an intentional use of the Light in the world according to those ideals taught us by the Christ. This is, if we can so say, the beginning stage of discipleship.
And this is to our point, to be Transformed is to move ones attitudes and opinions, one’s thoughts and feelings, away from the self and onto the things of God which the Master clearly elucidates for us. As we move to this point we are Transforming, in the process of Transformation, and we are doing those things that the Master tells us are imperative if we are to be accounted worthy of the Kingdom and are to be counted among His disciples. As we have been saying, this Transforming is not a thing that we just become but it is rather a steady process where we are of changing our focus and this change is made possible by that previous decision, that previous choice to change that we call Repentance. So again then we have the decision to change in Repentance and this is a thing that one may have to do several times; through this decision we have the change of focus from the self to the Soul, from the things of the world to the things of God, and through this steady process of changing our focus we are redirecting our lives toward our essential responsibility of keeping His words. And when we can Truly say that we ARE keeping His words, we enter into the world of discipleship, we ARE Transformed and as we take up this new mantle we begin the process of Redemption.
We should understand that inherent in keeping His words is the reality of discipleship and attainment of the Kingdom and that in effect this is the major objective of much of His words. While it IS True that His mission is organized around teaching and instructing the men in the world in the better way of Love, we should understand that He KNOWS that for the majority this reality is afar off and, here, more than 2000 years later, the finer points of this are just beginning to seep into the everyday lives of men. At the same time, it is the Master’s intent to teach men to focus their lives upon the spiritual and not the carnal and we see this in the instructions for ALL as they are found in the Sermon on the Mount. We should remember here that it is this carnal focus that IS sin and in understanding His saying: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17) in this way can make much sense from our perspective as aspirants who are engaged in His word and in these stages of Life. We should remember as well that the Master intentionally hides the Mysteries of the Kingdom from the man who is focused upon the carnal Life and at the same time He also leaves some uncertainty for the disciples as He teaches them in proverbs as we note above. We should try to see in this all the need for realization which we can count as our individual ability to discern Truth, to see through the illusion and the glamour, and to be able to see the things of God through the conscious mind of the man in the world. ALL Truth that is concerned with our lives here in this Earth and in His Kingdom is KNOWN to the Soul who is ever part and parcel of the Kingdom and of God; realization IS bringing that KNOWING down to where we can see and understand it in form in the world and this is accomplished by our focus upon those things.
As we often say, there IS NO short cut to His Kingdom nor to discipleship; for ALL men this begins with that change of focus from the things of the world to the things of God and this is that Transforming change that begins with one’s decision, one’s choice, to change which we KNOW as Repentance. This Transforming change must then grow to that point where we can say that we ARE Transformed and we see this in the Apostle Paul’s words saying: “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). In these words we should see that our proving the “good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” is done through our expression of divinity in the world and such IS the nature of the one who IS Transformed. The apostle is speaking to aspirants and disciples; he is speaking to those who have grown in spiritual stature as have we and we must ever understand that the place in this journey that a man finds himself is a purely personal thing and no other can KNOW his heart save by his expression of divinity in the world. And this cuts both ways as for those who pretend or wrongly believe in their own righteousness the Master tells us “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).
So we grow from the perspective of our ability to express the Light of the Soul and we ARE Transforming until we are Transformed and we close here today with one of the Master’s sayings on the Kingdom of God which we find by our focus upon the Christ Within. He tells us: “Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it” (Mark 4:30-32). Can we see the reality of spiritual growth in these words?
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post and since we are touching more and more on discipleship in our discussion, perhaps we will get back to these sayings 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!
- 1 Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
