ON LOVE; PART DCCXCV
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•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•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
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).
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
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
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ
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)
In the last essay, as we continued our discussion on the grace of God as His Presence and His Love and how that this grace IS our realization of these revelations of divinity, we came back to the ideas presented in our previous Quote of the Day. There we saw again the combined idea of the global and the individual sense of grace that IS in this world and it IS in understanding the ideas of these words from the Bhagavad-Gita that we can see deeper into the message that IS offered by the Master and His apostles; the message of the Kingdom of God within the man and the idea of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). This IS the reality of the global grace of God that exists in the Life of everyman and which requires NO action on his part; this IS the reality of the Soul that gives Life and consciousness to ALL men as part and parcel of the One Soul that we call God; it IS through the Soul that we touch the divine Nature of the Godhead. This idea of God Within IS NOT seen by the doctrines that choose to view spiritual Life in terms of those who will believe and confess that Jesus the Christ IS the Son of God and then stand these against those who DO NOT and, by default, those who CAN NOT because of social and cultural issues. While the Master teaches us that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21), this message IS NOT taken up by the doctrinal church which refuses to see the idea of the reality of God Within everyman and this despite the fact the Jesus says this to believers and deniers and to those who are His adversaries.
Similarly we should see the words of the Apostle Paul who tells us of the great mysteries of Life that ARE resolved in the Truth of “Christ in you“, a Truth that can be seen throughout the writings of the apostles when viewed in the absence of the preconceived ideas of doctrines and traditions. In Paul’s words this “Christ in you” should be seen in the context of the Master’s own words that we have been carrying for many essays, the words that show us that the Presence of the Christ in one’s Life IS dependent upon the reality of a man’s Love for Him and in this Love IS the reality of keeping His words. Against this the ideas of doctrines that proclaim that the man who believes and confesses in the common understanding of these words has this “Christ in you” CAN NOT stand. It IS in this that we should see the reality that He, as the Soul, the Christ and the God Within, IS within everyman and that this goes unrealized until the focus of one’s Life changes from the self and the self in the world to the things of God. It IS in this sense that this IS the “the hope of glory” which IS, from the perspective of the Soul, the final expectation for his own Life in form. While the doctrinal assertions regarding this idea of the Soul as the Christ and the God Within everyman DO NOT see the ultimate reality which they themselves hide away, the reality of the Presence of God in one’s Life ARE clearly shown to us by the Master and by the right discernment of the words offered by His apostles. And this IS True for us in the words that Paul writes to the Colossians saying:
“If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily” (Colossians 1:23-29).
We should remember here that the apostle IS writing to “To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse” (Colossians 1:2) and NOT to the ordinary man in the street. In this greeting we should see the idea of saints as those whose focus IS upon the things of God, those who ARE striving to keep His words as we read in Jesus own words below. In this understanding of these sayings above there IS more sense as the apostle IS showing that “If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away“, that this man will grow in the fullness of his own realizations of Truth which IS to KNOW “what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles“. And this Paul tells them as he admonishes them to partake in the giving of the Message of Truth to ALL, “warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus“. In this idea of warning IS the reality of admonishing which IS the alternate rendering in the King James Bible and it IS in this that we should try to see the Master’s own admonishment which IS a part of what IS called the Great Commission. There, Jesus tells us through His apostles to go and reach everyman “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you“….and this IS a far cry from much of the doctrines that have been substituted for His Truths.
In these ideas from Paul regarding the Christ Within we should see the essence of God in everyman and better understand the deeper reality of the Genesis statement that “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him” (Genesis 1:27). It IS in the reality of the Oneness of God and Christ which we read in the Master’s words below that show us that THEY ARE the Presence of God in one’s Life…..not one or the other, but both together as the Spirt of God active in one’s Life. And this IS the greater Truth that should be seen here, that it IS in this realization of their Presence that the Spirit IS active in one’s Life, that they become the expression of the man whose focus IS upon the things of God. And this IS the reality that Paul presents to us as well which we read as “we preach” which we should NOT confused with the doctrinal ideas of preaching but merely as our declarations of Truth in our words and our example in this world as we see in the Life of the apostle who says “Whereunto I also labour“. We read the Master’s words again:
“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).
For us these words set the standard for the revelation of the “Christ in you” and the realization of the “hope of glory“; we should see here as well that it IS the work of Love, our Love for Him that IS expressed as our Love for ALL men, and the work of keeping His words, that sets ALL things in motion and brings to us to the fullness of these realizations. It IS this that Paul speaks of saying “Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working” as he shows the disciples at Colosse how that the Inner man, the Soul and the Christ Within, must become the expression of the man in the world who seeks such fullness. The spiritual Life of Paul is shown to us in much detail in the Book of Acts and in his own epistles and in this we should see the reality of his story, how that he changed himself from being a Pharisee set against the new teachings of Jesus and the implications of His divine Nature that were so evident in His words and in His acts, to being foremost among the True disciples of the Lord. And it IS in humility that Paul works as we read in his Epistle to the Corinthians where he tells us “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Corinthians 15:9-10). In these words we see the working of the grace of God, that it IS Paul’s own realization of Truth that caused him to have “laboured more abundantly” which IS both the cause for and the effect of the Truth of that grace, that realization of the Presence of God in his Life.
The global nature of this grace comes to ALL men in the reality of the God and the Christ Within, as part of one’s Life in this world under the Plan of God; to this we must add the very nature of the carnal Life for which provisions ARE made without any “respect to persons” and we should see here that it IS without rhyme or reason that our fate in this world is sealed according to the propensity of the individual Souls that live through ALL human forms. It IS in this that men are found in the various cultures and societies of the world and NOT in the favor of a God who sees some men as better than others and, while these ARE difficult things to understand, it IS the reality of this that we see in the world; the reality of Souls living through forms that are best suited for their own current spiritual needs. In this ALL men can and DO progress in their ability to express their True nature, an expression that IS founded in Love and which can be expressed in any and ALL religious affiliations; the Christ IS in ALL men and this Truth IS best seen as the Love of God globally given to the world. It IS the realization and the expression of this Love that IS the reality of keeping His words and a look around the world today will show rather clearly that this realization IS lacking in the thoughts and the attitudes expressed by men. It is this realization of Truth that comes in Love that should be the reality of the Christmas message to the world. We repeat here our words from a previous Christmastime essay:
Christmas is the celebration of the Birth of the Christ which IS so much more than a historical event; it was a world changing event and there are few aspects of Life that ARE NOT effected by His Advent. In His coming, living among us in Love for ALL and dying as that grand example of Life itself, He left us many things and it IS unfortunate that most are not yet realized through the interactions of men in the world; the whole of time began again in this world and ALL who recognize what year we are in can realize this as a lasting legacy. This new beginning was born in Him, or as it is framed by most, this new beginning was born in His death, and in the nearly 2000 years that have come and gone since, there IS little evidence of His Truths in the world except as a rather fanciful dream of Peace, Love and harmony; He has become but a religion and a much splintered one that interprets His words to man’s convenience instead of the Truths that He pronounced. But as we approach yet another new age we can find hope; hope in the realities of an ever shrinking world; hope in our ability to see our brothers and better understand them even in the still somewhat closed societies across our globe. Hope in the simmering sense of Love and Justice for ALL; simmering in the hearts of men like us around the world; hope in the sometimes fleeting international cooperation and hope in the anticipated success of the True mission of the United Nations. Hope that there can finally be that Peace on Earth, GoodWill toward men that was the clarion call of the angel and the heavenly host in the pronouncement of the Birth of the Christ in this world of men.
“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men“ (Luke 2:7-14).
And so the Master IS born and He is called here a Saviour which is a word that defines His Name in the Hebrew; Vincent tells us of the full name Jehoshua, that it means: Jehovah (our )Salvation 4. It IS from this word savior that much of the Christian confusion comes and we would be better seeing this as deliverer as He brought to us the gospel, the good news of the Kingdom of God, its Truth, its reality and our BEST instructions for attaining that High Calling of being accounted worthy. And He brought us the message of Love in a new and progressive way as He brought us the Truth of Life in His Life of example and His death on the cross. He brought us ALL the Truth of hope in His misunderstood crucifixion and His equally misunderstood resurrection.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
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“
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
