ON LOVE; PART DLXII
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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“The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 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 12:29-31).
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“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40).
In the last essay we completed our discussion on the Sermon on the Mount and we should understand that the Master’s words in this Sermon are a guiding Light for ALL who desire the Truth of Jesus’ teachings and offers us the most general of requirements for those who would follow Him. In this view, this discussion IS never done as so many of those sayings that we so often use come from this Sermon. We highlighted some of the more important ideas in the last post and we should understand here that there IS NONE so important as Love and that so much else that He says is covered in one’s right understanding of what this Love IS. Discovering this Love IS NOT just a personal achievement but the reality of Repentance and the beginning of that Transformation as that Love comes to be expressed in ALL that one believes and does.
Individually Love is our expression of GoodWill and benevolence to others; it IS our according to ALL men whatsoever we would accord to ourselves and it IS DOING so without holding any one above another which idea Truly includes anyone. From the perspective of Love as the Master teaches us, we see ALL men in the same light; young or old, rich or poor, whole or maimed, and intelligent or not; we should not confuse here attachment and attraction to others in the world and these things should NOT interfere with the sense of Love which would see parents and siblings, wives and husbands, children and close friends and lovers, ALL in the same Light which IS GoodWill to ALL and the same Love for ALL. We should understand that any and ALL relationships that one may have with others in Life IS a temporal one and that in the Life of the Soul there IS NO particular attachment to another; as Souls there ARE NO parents or siblings, wives or husbands, children or close friends and lovers, there ARE ONLY Souls working out their destinies according to the Plan of God. We DO NOT and likely CAN NOT Truly understand the nature of True spiritual Life; we CAN NOT imagine the Life of the Christ or His apostles as it exists after the time that they spent here 2000 years ago. We can however surmise that based upon what we KNOW and understand of salvation and deliverance, that these Truly mean freedom from the NEED to incarnate again in this world, that ALL live on as spiritual beings who work in accordance with the Plan of God which becomes more intimately KNOWN in this state of being. In this sense of Love a man in this world sees the greater Truths and understands the greater realities of Life and it IS in overcoming the doubts and wonderment that he CAN become Truly free.
The Truth here IS that this freedom IS the destiny of ALL men and whether one can understand this or accept this today DOES NOT matter as in the timelessness of our eternal nature ALL will come to see their True spiritual reality. And this IS what the Apostle Paul tells us in those often used words from his Epistle to the Romans; that ALL men “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). Here, the word rendered as delivered means to be set free; to be set at liberty from the dominion of sin 2 according to the lexicon which also tells us that this Greek word eleutheroo IS generally rendered as make free. We see this same word in the Master’s sayings: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” and “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:32, 36) and in these we should be able to catch the reality of this idea. This freedom IS our individual goal in every Lifetime and in this we should see the reality of the Master’s words that “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33) and it IS in attaining this freedom, even by degree, of which Paul tells us to “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). This freedom IS a man’s Life work from the perspective of the Soul and it IS for this purpose that the Soul continually prompts the consciousness that IS held captive in the bondage of illusion and glamour in the world.
The way out of this morass of thoughts and feelings about the self and those close to one in the world IS the reality of the Master’s Love, the True Love that we see above, the True Love as the Master teaches and which IS reflected in the Golden Rule and the Great Commandments that are still at the top of our daily essays. And this Love IS not just a personal mission but it IS a communal issue as well that reaches into our corporate lives and our national lives and in these two realms there are many problems in the world today. These ideas of Love must permeate ALL areas of Life and must become the way of doing business and conducting politics and in these arenas Pope Francis has become a new voice for change. Many however mock the Pope’s words and this in itself IS NOT surprising as there are many for whom the Pontiff’s words rise against their personal, corporate and political interests which are mainly in the area of money and, from a Christian perspective, ofttimes are the product of greed. The reality here is that the man who professes to be a Christian should be more attentive to the Master’s words than to the ways of the world and this especially for those who claim to be saved or who consider themselves as religious.
For those who believe that they are saved by grace and who find their salvation in the ideas of doctrine which are fed by such sayings as: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God“, there should come some more realistic idea of just what this faith IS and what it represents. This idea of faith begins with a man keeping His word and then in the faith, the KNOWING, the reality of the Kingdom IS his; anything short of this is but a doctrinal approach that may ease men’s minds but which DOES NAUGHT for him spiritually. And this reality IS offered by the apostle as he continues in his words to the Ephesians saying: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10). Here we should understand that it IS to the disciple and the aspirant that the apostle writes and it IS in the frame of mind of such a hearer that these word Truly make sense. This faith again is that sense of KNOWING our outcome based upon our unity with God which comes by our focus upon the things of God and keeping His words. It IS to such a person that “the gift of God” comes and that gift IS that same deliverance that we discuss above; that gift IS the freedom from the world which comes by the expression of the Love and the Power of the Soul, the Christ Within, through the Life of the disciple and the aspirant in the world. And, of course, this sense of freedom, this deliverance, comes to men by degree which IS directly proportionate to their measure of focus upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True.
In Paul’s idea of works there IS much confusion and many think that they need only have faith, not the faith found in keeping His words, but the simple faith in Jesus and in the pronouncements of doctrine. There is no basis for this understanding and we should see Paul’s use of this word works as that it pertains to things done in the flesh, in the world, and in one’s focus upon the world. The man in the world can give of his time and possessions and conduct himself as a religious man and it IS these types of works that the apostle rejects here so that a man cannot preform worldly things from a worldly perspective and then boast. He goes on to teach the Truth, that man, ALL men, ARE “his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works” and this we must understand on a spiritual level, that this IS the True nature of the True man as He comes into the world and before he is nurtured in the illusion and glamour that becomes his Life. Why the apostle chose to frame his words this way IS NOT KNOWN, perhaps this IS his own parabolic way; but the reality of his words is built up to these ideas on faith and works and in the right context IS the Truth of His words. Here, if we can follow Paul’s words through this chapter, we find the man focused in the world who hears the word of Truth and Repents and that in this Repentance begins his Transformation to Godliness and righteousness. These men of Ephesus ARE become disciples or ARE becoming disciples and it is in this light that they are reminded of the grace of God, His Plan if you will, by which they ARE able to Transform and that this Transformation has naught to do with whatsoever that they may do in the world, it only has to do with their own expression of that Love and Power of the Soul and the KNOWING faith in the presence of God in their lives. Whatsoever they may do as works IS but their expression of Love which is the reality of their being “created in Christ Jesus unto good works“.
There is great misunderstanding about this idea of faith; what it is and how it works and it is related to the works of the man in the world. Doctrine takes the simple statement from Paul, that “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” and they paint it into a picture of salvation with no True responsibility on the part of the man in the world; they miss the point that the apostle IS making here and they miss the reality of the Truth of faith, that it IS the result of focus and keeping His words and not merely the mental as emotional assent as they may see in the similar idea of believing on the Master. There IS great Power in the reality of faith; in the idea of “faith as a grain of mustard seed” (Matthew 17:20); there IS the Power to move the mountain and ALL measures of faith should be seen in this same way….that it IS the working out in Life of the expression of that Power that comes in keeping His words. And this faith IS ever True, it IS not wavering, it IS that KNOWING without doubt that the Apostle Mark offers us in place of the idea of the “mustard seed” in this same or similar thought from the Master: “whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed , and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass ; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mark 11:23). This IS the reality of faith.
And the Apostle James tells us more of the relationship between faith and works. James sees this idea of works in a different way, that they ARE the result of faith and not as a caution that they may be in place of True faith as Paul teaches. Almost as a response to men’s thoughts about Paul’s words, James tells asks the question saying: “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?“. This whole segment is largely ignored by many in doctrine in favor of the erroneous interpretation of Paul’s words; here James goes on to answer this question in the negative and tells us clearly that “O vain man, that faith without works is dead” and then “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:14, 20, 26). Here we should see the reality of the works of faith in the Life of the man as his expression of the Love and the Power of the Christ Within. This IS ALL made yet clearer in the Book of Hebrews where the writer offers us many words of example on this idea of faith, some the same as those we get from James. We will come back to these ideas on faith and works with a much broader look in future posts.
Here however our intent IS to show the Christian that the works of faith are an important part of his objective of approaching God, of being His disciple and of attaining the Kingdom and that anything short of keeping His words is but self-deception in the mold of James’ words saying “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). And this IS our point individually and corporately, that a man express what it IS that he believes to be the Truth of God and the Truth of Love that we find in His words; that by some degree each man fight off the carnal and even the doctrinal pressures of Life in the world and keep His words. On a personal level this IS to express that Love that He teaches us; in business it IS the Golden Rule that treats ALL, employees, customers and even competitors in the same way that one would want to be treated. And in politics it is the expression of Love and Goodwill toward ALL in honesty and truthfulness and, in the combination of Love and the Golden Rule, to work for the benefit of whom the Master calls “the least of these my brethren” (Matthew 25:40) both at home and abroad; and, to work for legislation that enhances the rights of ALL over the selfish interests of money and political leverage.
We must Love in ALL that we do individually and corporately.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect |
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.
“And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4:16-21).
Today’s Quote of the Day from the First Epistle of John is his reflection on God and on Love. John tells us that God is Love and, as we have discussed, Love is certainly as aspect and an attribute of the Godhead and one which is supremely represented by the Christ. John tells us further that without Love there is no relationship with God and likens the Truth of dwelling in Love to being in His Kingdom and in His Presence. He draws for us the idea of Love for ones fellowman being the prime prerequisite for Love of God for although one may say that he Loves God, it cannot be True unless he first Loves his fellowman. In John’s words the equation is certain: “he who loveth God love his brother also“. And, lest we forget that the idea of Love that the Master teaches in not the emotional attraction that we live with daily, we repeat again: LOVE is….
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’. To this we add the ever important High Ideal as taught by the Christ: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
