ON LOVE; PART DCCCXI
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “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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WHAT THEN IS LOVE? 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. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God
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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12)
While so much of the doctrinal presentation of the Truths of Jesus’ teachings are couched in the nebulous ideas of His atoning death, the greater reality remains for us in the reality of His Life and of the more poignant instructions that He offers us; instructions which ARE for us His commandments and which ARE His words which we must come to see in the context of His sayings from the fourteenth chapter saying “If a man love me, he will keep my words“. In this series of sayings that we have been repeating daily, we should see the ever greater reality of the Word of God which Jesus shows us IS the reality of His words which we read as “the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me“. We have ofttimes said that much of the understanding that we should take from the Master’s words and the words of His apostles IS presented to us in rather clear language; it IS this language that IS poignant and it IS this language that IS NOT accepted at face value because men CAN NOT see the spiritual reality. It IS in the difficulty of seeing past one’s own carnal instincts and nurturing that the Truth of His words IS missed, diluted, and exchanged for the more palatable interpretations of scripture; interpretations that better fit into the carnal lives of men. From our perspective there ARE few of the Master’s words that are so diluted and missed as these ideas on attaining the Presence of God in one’s Life:
“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).
It IS in these words that we should find the Power of the spiritual man in this world as it IS in DOING according to these sayings that we become able to have the revelation and the realization of the Presence of God in our consciousness which IS otherwise attentive to the things of the world and of the flesh to use the Apostle Paul’s term for carnal living. It IS in the reality of our focus upon the things of God, our attention to the spiritual over the carnal, that we come to a greater understanding of the Truth and the depth of Jesus words; it IS in this focus that we are able to express the greater Truths that flow into our consciousness from our own Souls, our own God and Christ Within. It IS in this conscious decision to change one’s focus that allows for our own realization of the Truth and it IS this decision that IS the reality of the Repentance that the Master teaches us.
Without Repentance men are left to wander through the quagmire of carnal thoughts, attitudes and actions and it IS in this quagmire that men come to believe the reality of Life lies. It IS in one’s believing that this carnal Life, this Life as a man in the world, IS his Truth and it IS in this belief that so much of the doctrinal approach to God IS founded; it IS in this belief that men DO NOT see the reality of the Master’s words above which clearly show us the way to His Presence in our little lives. And it IS unfortunate that so much of the doctrinal view serves to prevent men from seeing the greater Truths as in their own minds, in the minds of those who create and propound such doctrines, each sees himself as having the Truth. It IS against the tendency of men to fashion their spiritual thoughts in carnal tones that Paul shows us the Truth of spiritual discernment and while his words are not clearly elucidated so that the carnal man can see his intent, they DO become clear to the man who has begun to look past his little Life and see the greater Truth of the realm of God and the Kingdom Within. Paul tells us that “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14); it IS in these words that we should see how that the idea of keeping His words as Jesus tells us above IS foolishness to so many who trust in their own sense of doctrine.
And so the Master continues with His same words on the reality of His Presence as He shows us the Truth of abiding in His Love and which He shows us parabolically in His words on the vine and the branches. In the reality of the idea that “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you” we should see the natural reciprocal action of Life laid out for us in easy terms; above we see that He abides in us when we keep His words and here we see that there IS a common exchange….that if He, by His words, abides in a man, that that man will abide in Christ. It IS here that we should see that “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit” reflects upon the same idea of keeping His words as the gateway to His Presence and it IS in His Presence that we will “bringeth forth much fruit“. And He tells us that without His Presence, we ARE naught, that “without me ye can do nothing” which IS better understood according to Young’s Literal Translation where we read “apart from me ye are not able to do anything” (John 15:7, 5).
And this leads us to our current selection below where the idea of His abiding in a man by way of that man’s keeping His words IS the same as one’s abiding in His Love. Here again we find that the same causative value, keeping His words, results in both “ye shall abide in my love” and His Presence as we read in His saying above that “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him“. Can we see the simple logic that Jesus paints for us in these words. We read our selection from the fifteenth chapter again:
“If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another” (John 15:10-17).
“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did , they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. But when the Comforter is come , whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: And ye also shall bear witness , because ye have been with me from the beginning” (John 15:18-27)
In the end of the first part of our selection above we find the reality of Love as Jesus expresses this to be the epitome of ALL that He has taught them. Then, as He perhaps recollects the reality that this sense of Love had already been ignored by the majority of men for fourteen centuries, the Master shows His Eleven that they will be scorned for their spiritual understanding and for their spiritual thoughts and attitudes in the world. And we KNOW that they are scorned by those who believe that they have the power and by those who follow that power, those who ARE “of the world“; here, in the idea that “the world would love his own“, we should see that the very thoughts, attitudes and actions of the man of God ARE contrary to the ways of the world and the lives of men in the world. It IS in the presence of a man whose focus IS Truly spiritual, Truly on the things of God, that the natural man will be very uncomfortable and will strike out in scorn against that presence. This IS the crux of the Master’s warning to His Eleven and to those who see the Truth of keeping His words; this IS the reality of Jesus teaching on this scorn, a word that we use in place of the firmness of hate as this idea of miseo IS rendered in the New Testament.
The reality of the Master’s further message IS found in the idea that when one DOES NOT KNOW that what he DOES IS wrong, it IS difficult for that person to see the reality; here Jesus tells us that by His words men ARE NOW aware of the greater Truth in His words….the greater Truth of Love. And this reality stretches deep into the realm of men in this world as it IS ALL men who ARE deluded by the ways of the world and this regardless of his own ideas on religion or on God or on the Truth of one’s spiritual reality. Short of keeping His commandments, short of keeping His sayings and His words, short of expressing that Love that He teaches as His commandment and His word, short of our striving to keep our focus upon the things of God and NOT on the things of the self in this world, ARE the ways of the natural man and the carnal man and this regardless of how he may wish to paint himself.
Finally the Master shows us that it IS in His Presence, which we should see in the reality of His words above, that we have the realization of the Comforter, the revelation of the “Spirit of truth” which IS the Truth of the Presence of God in the Life of the man whose focus IS upon the things of God. To see the greater realities of His words we must see them in their intended spiritual context and NOT according to the ideas of men; here we should understand that the Presence of God IS spiritual, that the Presence of Christ IS spiritual, and that in this combination of that Presence IS the Presence of the Holy Spirit which they in essence ARE. There ARE many confounding ideas presented by the Master as regards the Holy Spirit and we should understand that the idea of Comforter IS by an English association of words and ideas as this was seen by the Church Fathers many centuries ago; in other New Testament translations this Greek word parakletos IS rendered as Helper, Companion, Counselor, Paraclete, Advocate, and Friend and in ALL of these ideas there IS missing what we see as the greater Truth…..that the parakletos IS the Holy Spirit which IS the Spirt of and the Presence of God in one’s Life.
The Master continues with His talk to His Eleven with yet more pointed words and ideas and we will pick up on this next selection from the sixteenth chapter of the Gospel of John in the next essay; we read:
“These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh , that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father” (John 16:1-16).
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.
Repeating a Quote of the Day from the past that has some significance in relation to what we are discussing here, that the Kingdom of God and therefore God is within us ALL and that it IS His Presence which a man realizes by measure as he begins his journey to the Kingdom of God. Here Lord Tennyson poetically tells us just how close God Truly IS and how it is that we touch Him
Speak to Him, thou, for He hears,
and Spirit with Spirit can meet
Closer is He than breathing,
and nearer than hands and feet.
(Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809–1892)
From the poem The Higher Pantheism which puts forth the authors spiritual belief. Whether we agree with him or not, the quote if spiritually perfect for all of Christianity as well as any other world religion.
The thought behind the idea above IS NOT unlike that which we have been carrying as our Quote of the Day for many essays; It IS in the closeness that Lord Tennyson shows us that we should see the idea that “God dwells in the inner part of every man” which we read in the previous Quote of the Day. For us this saying and the previous one show us the closeness of the spiritual self to the Father and then too the closeness of the spiritual self with the personality of man. Men may like to think of God as something outside and above but the reality, as we have seen in so many of the sayings of the Master, is that God is with us and in us and we need only to let ourselves be drawn and to focus upon Him. And, if we can use these words from the Gospel of Thomas here we can perhaps see much: “When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the children of the living Father“
