ON LOVE; PART DCCCXVI
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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)
We ended the last essay with in a discussion on the Master’s words that cover the reality of “Whither goest thou?” as regards Jesus leaving the Presence of the Eleven. We should try to realize that this idea of “Whither I go” IS among the great mysteries of Life and of God and that there IS little clearly said to the apostles that IS NOT couched in parabolic language. While the Master reveals to His apostles that the very nature of His speaking in parables IS “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given” (Matthew 13:11), this should NOT be taken as that ALL men who believe themselves disciples KNOW the Truth of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. If we can see that Jesus IS speaking to disciples and if we can understand the criteria that the Master puts upon the Truth of being a disciples, it will be apparent that these mysteries ARE guarded and ARE NOT understood by any who DO NOT meet His criteria. Here again we repeat Jesus’ words that give us the most basic idea of discipleship and this, while it IS NOT ALL that He has to say on this high calling, should show us the rarity of men who CAN qualify; the Master tells us “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
That few make this connection between keeping His words and discipleship IS unfortunate, we however see the deeper Truths; we see that in discipleship we have ALL of the other ideas of grace that come in keeping His words. We see that discipleship IS the same as having His Presence in one’s Life as the Master shows us in His words from the fourteenth chapter of John’s Gospel and in this we should see that both come into the Life of a man by measure….the same measure by which a man’s expression to the world IS in Love and in accordance with His words. And here, in the relationship of keeping His words and one’s expression of Love we should be able to connect the reality of the Holy Spirit, the “Spirit of truth“, to His Presence and understand that having this Presence in one’s Life IS the reality of discipleship as well. It IS to His Eleven that He says “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless:a I will come to you” (John 14:15-18).
It IS here in these words that we should see the greater Truths; it IS here that we should see that it IS in the Presence of God in one’s Life that the Holy Spirit comes into a man’s realization; it IS here that we should see that while Jesus IS telling them “I will pray the Father“, that the reality of pray IS to ask and that the idea of to give can be also understood as to show, and to deliver as the lexicon tells us this Greed word didomi IS rendered in the King James Version. If we can relate this idea to His words that say “how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:13), we can get a better view of the meaning of both verses. Our point here IS that there IS a correlation in John’s Gospel between this idea of show, which can be one’s realization, and the Master’s follow up words saying that “ye know him; for he dwelleth with you” and that there IS a correlation as well between their realization of the Holy Spirit and the reality of His Presence in His words saying “I will not leave you comfortless:a I will come to you“. In the parabolic presentation of His these ideas the Master DOES give them and us ALL that we need to KNOW and we should ever understand that our spiritual discernment of His ideas IS predicated upon our expressed capacity to keep His words. Here again we see the Power of His Presence, the reality of the Holy Spirit, and the reality of discipleship as He presents them to us saying:
“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 our understanding of the simplicity of His presentation that we DO come to the greater Truth and this understanding IS our own measure of grace, our own measure of His Presence as our realization of the meanings and the Truths that He shows us. ALL things that spring up from the same ideas of Love and keeping His words ARE the same and whatever words are presented to us by scripture ARE but aspects of the One Truth the reveals the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. Here then, in the idea of His manifesting Himself to the man”that hath my commandments, and keepeth them“, IS the same reality as the idea that IS offered in His words that “”If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter“. And these ARE the same Truth the we should see in His words saying that “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed“….that to be the disciple IS to have the Comforter which IS the reality of His manifesting Himself and which IS the same as well as the idea presented in His words saying “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“. In His manifesting and in His abiding IS the realization of His Presence by the man who keeps His words; this Presence of God IS the reality of the Holy Spirit in one’s Life and ALL of these are the hallmark of the disciple of the Lord.
And we should NOT forget those other ideas that ARE encompassed in this reality of keeping His words which IS seen in the Life of the man who DOES so as Love for ALL. We should not forget that to “enter into the kingdom of heaven” IS the privilege of “he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21) which IS the same as to “hath my commandments, and keepeth them“. Here we should be able to further connect the dots and see that in this reality of attaining the Kingdom IS the Truth of His Presence, the Presence of the Holy Spirit, and the reality of discipleship, IS the greater Truth to the idea of being “born again” as it IS one who IS such that will “see the kingdom of God“. Here, in the additional idea from Jesus that “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:3, 5), we should be able to see how that if the Kingdom of God comes to the man who keeps His words, that this same reality must be True in order to be “born again“. While the idea of “born of water and of the Spirit” IS doctrinally linked to the idea from the Apostle Paul’s words that “if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10), this DOES NOT override the need to keep His words.
It IS in the reality of the Kingdom of God, and NOT in the doctrinal assertions that the Kingdom IS a place where the ‘saved’ go after death or at some future time depending upon the denominational view, that we see these relationships as they ARE intended to be seen. In the Truth of the Master’s words that “The kingdom of God cometh not with a observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21), we can come to understand the depth of the mysteries that ARE covered by His words. Perhaps is IS in our right understanding of this Truth of the Kingdom that other sayings like “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19) can come to have the fuller meaning that the Master intended. We should try to understand the idea of least and greatest here in the context of the Kingdom Within; that the Kingdom IS within ALL men…..within the Pharisee to whom the Master IS speaking above in the saying from Luke’s Gospel and within the man who keeps His words. In the overall relationship of the Kingdom to the Presence of God in one’s Life we can see the clearer message; that the man who DOES NOT keep His words has the least realization of the Presence of God and the Kingdom Within while the man who fully keeps His words has the greatest realization of the Truth.
Between these poles of none and ALL it the great range of degrees, the infinite range if you will, that encompasses ALL of humanity and in this we should be able to glimpse the Truth of Jesus’ message as He “went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom” (Matthew 4:23). This IS the good news of the Kingdom of God that IS protected by His parabolic language from the man whose vision IS carnal; protected from the man who has yet to Repent. It IS in similar fashion that we should try to see the deeper meaning behind Jesus saying that “from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12); here we have the understanding that men ARE coming to realize the Truth and ARE seizing their opportunity to attain the Kingdom. Vincent tells us that this violence is literally: forced, overpowered, taken by storm 4, and in this we get the better idea of Jesus intent. Vincent also shows us that the idea behind “take it by force” IS to: to snatch away, carry off 4, which allows us to relate these words from Matthew to the like ideas from Luke where we read: “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached , and every man presseth into it” (Luke 16:16). It IS in the words of the Baptist and of the Master that say to ALL men “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2, 4:17) and it IS in this context that we should see the idea of how that one may “presseth into it“.
And it IS in this same context that we should view other words by the Master. Jesus tells us that “Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power” (Mark 9:1) which should, in its own clarity, show us that the Kingdom IS NOT the destination of the ‘saved’ after their death or at some theological resurrection. It IS in ideas like this that we should try to see that ‘seeing’ the Kingdom of God IS the realization of one’s Presence in that Kingdom which IS the Presence of God in one’s Life here and now. And there are many other sayings from the Master that should be sufficient to break down the doctrines that ARE founded in the doctrines of the Jews and their traditions; doctrines that DO NOT see the reality of Life nor glimpse the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. We close today without addressing our selection from the sixteenth chapter of the Apostle John’s Gospel which we have been discussing and which sent us upon our ideas about the reality that IS intended for us to see in Jesus words that His apostles DO NOT ask again “Whither goest thou?“. It IS in their unrealized understanding of what He tells them saying that “whither I go ye know, and the way ye know” (John 14:3) that the Truth lies as He unlocks for them the deeper Truths of how that they and we attain and keep the Presence of God in our Life. And in the view that “the kingdom of God is within you“, much Truth can be found in His other words that we cite above and in these others also:
- “Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein” (Mark 10:15).
- “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34).
- “if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you” (Luke 11:20).
- “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God” (Luke 13:28-29).
In ALL of these sayings above we should be able to see the reality of the Kingdom Within which IS one’s realization of the Presence of God, a realization which IS unlocked for ALL in the simple Truth that we should keep His words. We repeat again our current selection which we will get back to in the next post.
“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“
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
