TRUTH

Living the Golden Rule, Part 4 ~ Being the Love You Long to Receive

Posted on February 20, 2020

If all is either love or hate, then most people choose to receive love. Often, though, people become the hatred they claim they hate – call names, ridicule, bully, put down, criticize… If, like in Part 3, Why The Golden Rule Works, we send out hate, that is what we receive in return. If hatred is not what we want to receive, then how do we BE LOVE? 

What does it mean to live the Golden Rule? How might it make a difference in your lif

Part 1, the question you were to ask yourself is how you want to be treated by others.

Part 2, Which quality do you choose to live? 

Part 3, Divine Message, Why the Golden Rule Works

In the Bible, 1 Corinthian 13:4-7, Paul said…

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never ends.

Let’s study the ancient meaning of these words on love:

(William Barclay, Daily Study Guide of First Corinthians is source for the ancient meanings.)

• Love is patient. The Greek word makrothumein, used in the New Testament always describes patience with people and not patience with circumstances. The word is used of the person who is wronged but doesn’t seek vengeance; a person who is slow to anger, and who, no matter how unkind and hurting someone is to them, shows the same patience as God shows all of us, and is a sign of strength, not weakness. That doesn’t mean patience with circumstances, or to remain in an abusive situation. That is not love, neither to the abused or the abuser; that is enabling and only encourages abusive behavior. Get out. Stay safe.
• Love is kind. Love that is “sweet to all.” Some people are good and yet unkind. That also means being sweet and kind to yourself.
• Love does not envy.  There are two kinds of envy. One covets the possessions of other people. The other begrudges that others have what they don’t have. Socialism falls into this category – taking from others so that you can have more. That is believing that God is limitation, not abundance. We don’t pull others down to try to lift ourselves up. Depend on God as your Unlimited Supplier.
• Love does not boast. Some people confer their love with the idea that they are bestowing a favor. Boasting isn’t a pure excitement about an accomplishment but a pompous or arrogant talk or manner. A cockiness.
• Love is not arrogant. This is the person who says they are not like other people, that the laws of morality, or even laws in general, do not apply to them, and who talks and acts as if they are superior.
• Love is not rude. There are those who, under the guise of love, take delight in being blunt and almost brutal – using truth as a weapon to hurt or bring down.
• Love does not insist upon its own way. This is about those who are always thinking of what life owes them, a sense of entitlement, instead of those who never forget what they owe to life, a sense of gratitude.
• Love is not irritable. Meaning it never flies into a temper, never becomes impatient and exasperated with people, which is a sign of defeat. When we lose our tempers, we lose.
• Love is not resentful; it does not store up the memory of any wrong-doing. The Greek word translated store up (logizesthai) is an accountant’s word, and used for entering up an item in a ledger so that it will not be forgotten. We too often reach into the past to remind other’s of their mistakes. A “remember when you….?”
• Love finds no pleasure in wrong-doing, which means love finds no pleasure in anything that is wrong, or the malicious pleasure when we hear something derogatory about someone else.
• Love rejoices with the truth. The TRUE Truth equals freedom. It means total connection with Source. It is rejoicing with others for their good fortune, being happy for and with them.
• Love endures all things. Love can bear any insult, any injury, any disappointment because one’s strength lies within each person, and not from anything seemingly outside oneself. Enduring can also mean deciding what is right for you and your life and making necessary changes.
• Love believes all things. It means trusting our Source, always, and believing the best about other people who are also created by/from God. It means believing you are magnificent because you are created from God-Magnificence. It means all is possible with God.
• Love hopes all things. In reality, your hope resides within the God within you. It means to trust in that power that is greater than your own. Your Higher Power. It means don’t get discouraged, don’t let circumstances and situations have power over you, but to keep asking for help, knowing in advance that you will receive it.
• Love bears all things. The verb used here (hupomenein) is one of the great Greek words. It is generally translated to bear or to endure; but what it really describes is not the spirit which can passively bear things, but the spirit which, in bearing them, can conquer and transmute them. To transform them. It’s not a passive suffering, but a proactive transfiguration.

WHY IS LOVE IMPORTANT?

Love is part of all of there is. What is Wisdom without love? How can there be compassion without love? Power without love would be ill-used and thus no True Power at all. There can be no true relationship without love. And guidance in life to what and where? If there is no love, then you are mis-guided. Without love there is no peace, beauty, harmony or joy. Without love there is no purpose. To be of any value and to experience happiness in your life, allow God’s love to emanate in all you think, say and do. You are only happy when you are God in action which is being love.

HOW DO YOU ‘BE LOVE’?

Certainly not by yourself. What is crucial is to connect with your Source of Love, God. Ask for help in removing any blockages preventing you from being the love you long to receive. Every thought, word and action are to be loving. Ask God how to do that. Allow God’s love to flood into you, filling you with Divine love. THEN you can share that love with others. In return. you will receive love, along with peace and the joy of being alive.

In the Golden Rule, concentrate on being love, on your Oneness with God that is the Source of Love, and all else will fall in place.

Love is part of all of there is. What is Wisdom without love? How can there be compassion without love? Power without love would be ill-used and thus no True Power at all. There can be no true relationship without love. And guidance in life to what and where? If there is no love, then you are mis-guided. Without love there is no peace, beauty, harmony or joy. Without love there is no purpose. To be of any value and to experience happiness in your life, allow God’s love to emanate in all you think, say and do. You are only happy when you are God in action which is being love.

Next week: The Golden Rule, Part 5: Changing Yourself, & the World

The Golden Rule, Part 1

The Golden Rule, Part 2: Which Quality do You Choose to Live?

The Golden Rule, Part 3: Why the Golden Rule Works

Photo Credit: alphabetsalad.com