IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1180

ON LOVE; PART DCCLXIX

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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.

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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).

The last essay began with our ideas on Love, on how that Love IS the spiritual Power in this world that can accomplish ALL things and, while we did NOT express it in quite this way, this message should be clear from the totality of our words and the words from scripture that we cited. This view begins with the words of the apostles who show us that to Love ALL men IS to keep His words entirely and that this IS what brings to men the Presence of God in their lives. While our view may begin with sayings like “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5;14), the greater Truth IS that this IS merely an expansion of the words of the Master who gives us the Great Commandments that we repeat again at the top of our essay.We should see that this teaching on Love colors His Life and thereby His example as it IS shown to us in many ways from mercy to compassion to caring for ALL men regardless of their position in Life. It IS unfortunate that these ideas of mercy and compassion ARE NOT connected to the True meaning of Love. In mercy we should see the idea of the expression of Love in the world for ALL and not the common understanding of mercy as what we offer to the downtrodden and the needy; this we should see by the Master’s use of this in repeating the words of the prophets saying: “But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless” (Matthew 12:7). This saying, when traced back to the Prophet Hosea, shows us the idea of mercy, rendered from the Hebrew word checed, in more proper terms of: goodness, kindness, faithfulness , and it IS rendered as lovingkindness in many places; here it reflects what the Lord desired from the people and especially those of spiritual authority.

And we should see similar ideas in the word rendered as compassion, that this IS mercy as it IS felt in the human form, as a strong desire to offer Love to ALL as did the Master where we read that He “saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14). Here Jesus Love IS offered to ALL the multitude without any reservation; this IS His expression of Love and this IS mercy. Elsewhere we see this equality of ideas in the words of the Apostle Matthew who shows us that the blind men ask for mercy and that the Master offers compassion; we read: “two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you? They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him” (Matthew 20:30-34). We should be able to see and to understand that these ideas of mercy and compassion ARE the expression of Love in this world and, since these ARE the example set by the Lord, these should be offered as the reality of our GoodWill to ALL men.

It IS this Love, this expression of mercy and compassion, that IS the reality of keeping His words and it IS keeping His words that IS the KEY to His Presence in the Life of the man who strives to DO so. This we KNOW from the Master’s own words which, while they have a resounding clarity, ARE NOT seen in the way that we have been presenting them. This IS however the message of the Lord as He tells His disciples, and us through them, that “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15); while we have to discern His meaning and His Truth here so as to understand that this Love for Him must per force include our Love for ALL men, He shows us here the reality of the Holy Spirit which also has NOT been clearly seen as the whole idea of the Holy Spirit remains a nebulous affair in most doctrines. But this IS the Presence of God and the Master DOES NOT leave us wanting for understanding as He frames this again in other words and then again because of the apostle’s question; we read:

“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).

This IS the reality of the Presence of God in the Life of the man who keeps His words and while the doctrinal view may be contrary to this idea of quid pro quo as the Master expresses it, this IS the Truth of His words. And we must see here how that it IS Love and its expression as mercy and compassion that ARE the KEY to this Truth of keeping His words and attaining the Presence of God in one’s Life, a Presence that IS His Love and His grace as these should be understood. This Presence IS the revelations that come to the man in the world from his own Soul, from the God and the Christ Within, and it IS in the realization of this Presence that our thoughts, our attitudes and our actions turn steadily away from the things of the world and onto the things of Love which ARE the things of God. And this idea of reciprocity, this quid pro quo that we see in the Master’s words above, IS shown to us by the Apostle John as well in these sayings that we have been repeating for several days, these sayings on the Power of Love which IS the Power of the Presence of God. We should understand here that the Power of Love IS the Power of His Presence and that this sense of grace comes upon the man in the world who Loves, which IS to keep His words; and this IS clearly stated by the apostle when the focus of these sayings IS taken off of the ancillary ideas of confession and believing which are sorely misunderstood. As we have previously discussed, the apostle DOES connect ALL of this Love together for us much as he reports in his gospel that Jesus did; he shows us that His Presence, His Love, comes to the man who Loves, that “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us” and he tells us that our Love for God IS hinged on the same precept of keeping His words as he shows us that “this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments“. And these ideas of the Love of God and our Love for God are neatly nestled in the reality we “love one another” which he shows us as the great KEY. We read John’s words again:

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 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. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we now that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 4:7-5:5).

In the end here we see the apostles ideas on overcoming the world and this should be seen in the same light as the Master’s own words saying “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). It IS in this sense of overcoming that we see the Power of Love which we can see in the apostles words that tie this together for us saying “whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world” which saying we must relate to his previous words saying that “every one that loveth is born of God“. Again we must understand that these ideas from the Master and from the apostles ARE the end points in the journey of men to the Kingdom of God and that there ARE steps and stages upon this Path, that there IS ever more revelation and realization and ever more of His Presence in the Life of the man who strives to keep His words. While the result of attaining the Kingdom of God and of True discipleship may be absolute, the measure of grace received DOES bring us closer by measure to our goal and this IS the reality of the Master’s own teaching on the growth of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom that grows within the man who strives and who maintains his focus upon the True goal of Life in this world: to “be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21-22). With this we come back to the ideas that we discussed in the last essay regarding the adoption, the Union of the Soul, the True man, with His expression in this world which IS the Union of the consciousness with God.

Here we should try to see that it IS by our overcoming, by degree, the lures of the flesh, by transplanting those desires with the realizations of Truth, that one moves forward in his journey upon the Path to God. This realization IS the grace of God that we receive by such overcoming and this starts with the simplicity of heeding the prompting of the Soul, the prompting to DO right as this IS interpreted by the carnal mind and emotions. And this IS the rub, that the carnal mind has the ability to shut out the prompting by the strength of one’s focus upon the things of the world and it IS this focus that is the clamor of Life in the world over which the Soul IS NOT heard. It takes but a glimpse of Truth however to begin the journey and that glimpse can be provided by the exposure of a man to the ideas of Truth expressed by the Master and His apostles and by those who properly represent their ideas. We should see here how that many can be misled by the words of others that purport to be the Truth but which ARE NOT and in this sense of believing we should understand that it IS the carnal mind and not the inner consciousness that finds affinity with such words that seemingly provide relief and salvation without any effort on the part of the man in the world…without his expression of Love. This IS an easy trap and one which IS ONLY overcome in Love and in the ability of the man to continually seek the Truth at once it IS glimpsed by him, a trap that IS only overcome by the depth of the ideas of the Apostle Paul who tells us: “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). While this IS intended for the aspirant and the disciple who IS caught in that state of duality that comes with Repentance, the underlying Truth IS for ALL men.

It IS this overcoming that should be seen in the ideas that we presented in the last post; it IS this overcoming that leads to the adoption, that sense of Oneness with the Lord, which has its reality in the Oneness of the Christ and the God Within with his expression of Life in the world. In this Oneness is our expression of Love and the reality of our keeping His words and here we should try to clearly see the awesome Power that IS this Love. And this brings us to those words on discernment that we have been carrying for several posts; here in this we should see and understand that the spirit which is of God that Paul presents below IS Love, it IS Love as the Presence of God and in the reality that “God IS love” as we read above in John’s Epistle. When we can understand this relationship in Paul’s word and understand that the Holy Spirit IS the reality of the Presence of God at work in the Life of a man whose focus is on the things of God, we can then see how that ALL these spiritual idea merge into one and that one IS Love. The man in the world who IS the aspirant and the disciple Truly has the “spirit which is of God” and “not the spirit of the world” and here we should try to discount the idea of received as this word can easily be rendered as taken or as have which can offer us a clearer understanding of the intent of the apostle. As aspirants and as disciples we have the “spirit which is of God” by measure and, as our focus IS upon the things of God, we DO NOT have the encumbrance of the “the spirit of the world” which IS founded in illusion and glamour. It IS in this way that we should read Paul’s words saying:

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But 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 2:12-14).

We have “spirit which is of God” and it IS in this that we can KNOW “the things that are freely given to us of God” and understand that these things ARE, ALL of them, spiritual things. In this we should see the reality of grace and the Truth of the Presence of God and in these both we should see that the Spirt that IS God IS Love. Here we should see that it IS the Presence of God, the Holy Spirit, that teaches, or, better, reveals to the consciousness of the man in the world those things that ARE spiritual and this IS in agreement with the words of the Master who tells us “the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things” (John 14:26) and with John’s words on the unction, the anointing, which IS the God and the Christ Within; we read: “the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:27).

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

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.

We repeat here again a saying that is from the Bhagavad Gita, which goes well with our theme of the God Within, the Soul, which we see as the Christ Within and while this is good in the Christian world and is True based upon our understanding of the Christ as the manifestation of God, we should also see in these words below that it does not matter what these divine ideas are called; that it matters not what we call this Inner Man, that he is the same in ALL, he is the Soul.

Thou carriest within thee a sublime Friend whom thou knowest not. For God dwells in the inner part of every man, but few know how to find Him. The man who sacrifices his desires and his works to the Beings from whom the principles of everything stem, and by whom the Universe was formed, through this sacrifice attains perfection. For one who finds his happiness and joy within himself, and also his wisdom within himself is one with God. And, mark well, the soul which has found God is freed from rebirth and death, from old age and pain, and drinks the water of Immortality.—Bhagavad-Gita

It is difficult to tell just what verses of the Bhagavad Gita the above is from; whether it is a paraphrase or a combination. It is from the book “The Great Initiates” by Édouard Schuré which was originally published in French in 1889 and perhaps it is in the translation of the verses that they become hard to recognize. However, the sheer beauty of the presentation caught my attention and so I share it with you. The Path to the Kingdom is the same no matter what religion one professes.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts

• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888