IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1039

ON LOVE; PART DCXXVIII

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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 noted how that many believe that the James’ turning to a man’s planning for the future IS a change of topic and we set forth a summary of the ideas presented in the chapter that lead up to this idea of plans and schemes. In our view this IS not a change but a continuation of the same theme that changes the perspective from his instruction on the plight of the man whose Life is enmeshed in the duality of the aspirant and the disciple, the man who recognizes the forces of the world as opposing God, to a equally practical instruction on how that a man should follow the Truth of the Master’s injunction of “take no thought” (Luke 12:22). Again, the ideas that James IS presenting ARE misunderstood by many who DO NOT understand the reality of his intended audience, the aspirants and the disciples who are scattered across the area, and that his epistle IS for their better understanding of the Way of the disciple as he goes through his own list of potential failings which range from resisting temptation, to holding doctrinal beliefs above the Truth of the Master’s words, and to the reality of KNOWING the Truth of what one deems to be that Wisdom from above. He cautions them on the reality of “pure religion” and the deception of believing to be religious without being among the “doers of the word” and he warns as well regarding the relationship of a man to the things of the world; how that the man who IS a “friend of the world is the enemy of God“.

In this summary as well as the one that we posted in the last essay we have but a portion of the ideas and thoughts that are found in this Epistle of James which have the intention of reinforcing the Truth in the minds of the aspirants and the disciples who, while they have committed their focus to the things of God, suffer in the duality of Life in this world; the many who remain as “double minded“. And we should note here again that the apostle’s approach IS one the encourages the reader to judge himself as James makes his presentation in a ‘if the shoe fits’ manner. It IS in this manner of writing that we see the current ideas on plans and schemes as well and here this is particularly apparent as he introduces his words by addressing “Go to now, ye that say“. Repeating our current selection:

“Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say , If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:11-17).

We should remember here that the first part of this selection IS NOT ONLY in regard to what one may say to another and that the reality here is “speak not against” and NOT “Speak not evil” as this IS rendered here in the King James Bible. In the idea of speak we should see the totality of one’s expression and this ranges from speaking against another to speaking for oneself as the idea here IS NOT in the expression so much as it IS in the idea of judgment. This can be most easily understood when we remember that the preceding verses ARE in relation to being humble, that the aspirant and the disciple should “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:10). This being humble IS of course the opposite of being proud which IS seeing oneself as better or more important, among other ideas of self. This IS the thought that should be carried into the our current sayings and it IS here that we should see the idea of lifting oneself up as we clearly see in James own experience with the Master as he and his brother believe that they are ‘more’ than the other disciples and ask the Master for special privilege.

The message that IS carried here IS summed up by the apostle as he admonishes us to “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded” (James 4:8) and it IS upon these thoughts that he builds in telling us that to plan and scheme for one’s worldly Life and for tomorrow is futile. In James words we should clearly see that such planning as he cites IS but an example that should be carried through to the ultimate reality of “take no thought” and while this idea is diluted by doctrine, it IS amplified here by James and in many other sayings from the apostles as well. In the last essay we posted John Gill’s ⁸ thoughts on James’ words and we should note that these are largely along the same lines as his thoughts on “take no thought” on which Vincent tells us that: It is uneasiness and worry about the future which our Lord condemns here, and therefore Rev. rightly translates be not anxious ⁴. While these ideas of worry and being anxious may be suitable for the common understanding, James IS telling us that these ARE NOT suitable for the aspirant and the disciple; that these men must NOT be concerned whatsoever about the morrow and should see the True futility of plans and schemes….”Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow“.

Though apostle reminds us of the foolishness of plans and schemes, these ideas are likely wasted upon the man whose focus IS in the world as this IS ALL that he KNOWS. For us who see however this IS an inherent part of that duality with which we struggle as we ARE focused upon the things of God yet we are alive and a part of this world of men. It IS when we come to see the reality of Life that these ideas ALL come together and a man can more clearly see the Truth of “take no thought” and the reality of that choice between God and mammon. Here in James words we should be reminded of the Parable of the Rich Fool where there IS a man in the world who:

“thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on” (Luke 12:17-22).

The message of this parable and the message that we have here from the Apostle James are essentially the same and they are equally misunderstood. In the parable is the idea of a man’s unpredictable demise and that his focus upon the things of the world is resolved into the idea of “whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?“. From the more spiritual perspective we have the KNOWN conclusion that the man CAN NOT take any thing, that he CAN NOT take the this treasure and, in the Truth of this idea of treasure as the Master uses this word, we should be able to see ALL things that ARE of importance to him. A man CAN NOT take anything out of this world and this goes to ALL things psychic and physical and this includes ALL attachments and honors….whatsoever there IS that he may possess in any way IS left behind. And, while the personality may take certain thoughts and feelings out of the world as the personality survives the physical death for a time, if these are thoughts and feelings of the world they can only be to his detriment.

We have discussed these ideas several times in our blog and we generally include the words by the writer of the Book of Ecclesiastes and we will do so again; we read: “As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand. And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?” (Ecclesiastes 5:15-16). In this expanded idea we have a twofold reality that IS found in both the parable and the words by James. First the idea that a man “shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand“; this covers ALL things of the world ALL treasures and possessions and if we look closely at this Hebrew word yad we can see that its meanings are varied and that figuratively it means other things as well; Strong’s tells us that yad means: hand, by extension: arm, finger; fig. of control, power, strength, direction, care ³. In the second part we have the additional idea “that in all points as he came, so shall he go” and in this we should NOT see that we come as babes, this IS but the form that we use, but that we come as Souls who bring into Life ONLY whatsoever spiritual collateral one may have accumulated.

In the end, the message of ALL these ideas IS that we come as Souls, spiritual beings who will live for a time in a form in the Earth, and then leave in much the same way. There IS certainly NO thing of the Earth that we can bring out of it and while we believe that a man retains some of the reality of his developed personality, this IS but a temporary situation and perhaps we should view this time as a prolongation of the process of dying. Perhaps a Life in the Earth IS NOT complete until ALL vestiges of that Life are gone. This IS yet a mystery and it IS NOT the point of our discussion; the reality IS that naught can be brought out of the Earth save whatsoever spiritual treasure that one may have built; the treasure that would be seen in the idea of being “rich toward God“, that this focus has its reward which one DOES take. James reminds us of the parable and the ideas from Ecclesiastes as he tells us that it IS futile to work for the benefit of the self in the world and, as he continues, he ties his ideas to the reality of being humble and of being proud which we should see with the broadest understanding. In his words “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away“, James is simply telling us that this Life in this world is both temporary and that it is unpredictable as we DO NOT KNOW when it will “vanisheth away“.

The apostle goes on to say that the aspirant and the disciple to whom he writes should ever understand this temporal and the unpredictable nature of Life in this world and understand that there IS NO control over this by man; and this regardless of what he may believe. Here, when we read that “For that ye ought to say , If the Lord will“, we should NOT understand this as the Will of God as that Will IS a different Greek word and, while they are similar, their usage IS very different. Here, in the Greek word thelo we see the ideas of will, decide, want to , wish, desire ³ according to Strong’s and that this is used to express: would, will, desire, willing, have, wouldest, etc.³. We make this point so as to take away the idea of some that it IS in God’s Will that a man live or die; in this, while ALL things happen within the reality of God, He DOES NOT have a personal position in the Life nor death of any nor in what one should do in the Earth. In this we should see that the God Within plays the greater role and this would be consciously done ONLY for the very advanced; perhaps we can understand this best in the idea that this Greek word thelo IS rendered as listeth in the Master’s saying to Nicodemus: “The wind bloweth where it listeth“. Can we see here the idea of “the Lord will” in the same light as the “The wind bloweth where it will” as this is alternately rendered?

In these words from James that imply the Will of God, we can actually see the face of the reality of the prior statement regarding the temporary and unpredictable nature of Life, that it IS NOT in the hands of men but in the greater reality of where the “wind bloweth“. There IS an untranslated conjunction that John Gill points to in his commentary as he tells us that some versions have two such conjunctions while others DO NOT. Vincent ⁴ does not refer to this and according to Mr. Gill we would read this as “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will and, we shall live, and do this, or that“. With this some commentary breaks this into two ifs; if one “shall live“and “If the Lord will” taking the will of the Lord out of the arena of Life and death but leaving Him in what a man should do; Mr. Gill interprets the second part as: if it should be agreeable to the determining will and purpose of God, by which everything in the world comes to pass, and into which the wills of men should be resolved, and resigned ⁸. Here we have a strange conjunction of ideas that takes us back to the doctrinal premise that God has a plan for the individual lives of men but the reality IS that except for the man whose focus IS upon the things of God, that one would never KNOW that that he has perceived such a plan properly.

In the doctrinal view, if a man perceives his own idea as God’s will in whatsoever he may embark upon, that this IS in the will of God. But, as we KNOW from our own discussions on the dual ideas of “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) and the very nature of Wisdom from above which such perception would be, that there would be NO favor given any man and that there would be NO carnal thoughts from above. In the end, we see James words as that he IS NOT showing this doctrinal view of the Will of God but that he IS showing the reality of the futility of carnal endeavor for the aspirant and the disciple who have changed the focus of their lives to the things of God.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

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.

As we approach the Wesak Festival at the Full Moon of May, it seems appropriate that we post the Great Invocation as our Quote of the Day. Wesak IS the Festival of the Buddha and it IS said that on this day the Buddha returns to us and stands with the Christ to help to focus the attention of men of GoodWill on the Truth of the Plan of God, the Plan that can come to fruition in the expression of the Light and Love and Power in the world of men.

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!

 

• ²  New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• ³ Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
• ⁴  Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
• ⁸ Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com