Ephesians 5:2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 26For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. (James 2) John XIV, 23: "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." (March 24, 1872) A few words suffice to explain this verse, for it is quite natural that a man having an affection for somebody else, who is in a higher position and wiser, will do everything possible to gain the esteem and love of his higher-ranking friend or master. He will seek to prove his affection and love through acting in accordance with his higher-ranking friend's or teacher's instructions and advice. If this is the case, the affection of the one will be requited by the other's love. Thereby a spiritual understanding is created as among members of a family who live in harmony with each other. That is the approximate meaning of these words I once spoke to My disciples and which were an admonition to adhere to the once chosen path also after I had gone, when a visible influence through My words and deeds was no longer possible and to keep My Word and live accordingly out of love for Me. I said this to My disciples deliberately in advance, since I knew to what temptations and influences by the world they would be subjected in the execution of their mission. On account of this I also called their attention to one point which they had not comprehended as yet, namely, that I and the Father are One and that he who saw Me had also seen the Father, for - as already mentioned in an earlier text interpretation - their thinking was still too human. They were still unable to grasp the idea of a spiritual world, a spiritual influence and a higher spiritual being, as I was, in a physical body. Sometimes they did believe that they had correctly understood this concept, but this conviction did not last. Whenever it was in danger of being entirely lost, I had to revive it and once more stir it up in their hearts, particularly during the time when the last moments were approaching, moments which were the most bitter for Me and dealt them a very hard blow, since what was happening before their eyes they would never have thought possible.
Therefore, I promised them a Comforter and made the thought of the loss of My visible person as bearable as possible to them. What I then said to My disciples is also valid for the future for all those who likewise take the right path of faith and love. For, all people who honestly want to love Me, actually prove this only by keeping and following My words. Following My words and proving this through actions is, in fact, the touchstone for whether people are serious in their wish to follow Me along the path of meekness and self-denial upon which I Myself have led the way, leaving behind all the comforts of the material world, turning their eyes only towards the spiritual, eternal realm. There are many in this world who do not at all understand the meaning of the words "to love Me" or they are inclined to interpret them in a way that suits them best; however, with those I am not. I shall not and cannot, neither as the Son nor as the Father, make My abode in their hearts, for in them the largest space is occupied by worldly cares. And they only think of Me and My teaching when they are reminded either by a church-holiday or bitter experiences and accidents that besides the material there is also a spiritual world and above both there is a ruler, sustainer and leader who, in spite of being neglected, still allows Himself to be found by man as a loving Father. To such people, who barely suffer Me to walk alongside their worldly affairs, I cannot fulfil the promise to make My abode in their hearts, for they do not love Me the way their love for Me should be. Because I only want their best and give them good advice through My Word, they have a kind of benevolence for My teaching and for My person, still with an element of doubt as to whether I, as a person, really exist. Therefore, to give themselves entirely to Me and submit in everything to Me and My ordinances, - that far they do not want to extend their love. For, then they would have to renounce many worldly pleasures and enjoyments which, in their opinion, could not be done, since one is living in this world and has to live with it. These people - and there are millions of them - have still to cover a long road of bitter experiences until they will come to understand that - so to speak - casting glamorous eyes at Me is of no value and use, but that one either must surrender to Me completely or fall to the world. They will seek rest and peace everywhere and they will blame everything - Me, nature, circumstances or fate, as they call it. But they will never recognize themselves as the cause of their own misfortune. As a result, their fate will be this: No Comforter, no Peacemaker will be able to come to them because they fail to understand that peace cannot be established from the outer world to within, but can only go forth from their inner being. When you see the world getting more and more wicked and evil, when people keep becoming more dissatisfied and discontent, more cruel and selfish, the reason for this is that no one recognizes the true road to peace and contentment any more, namely, complete submission to My guidance. The longer this hunt for transient worldly possessions and influential positions continues, the more do people stray from the actual source of all the better virtues, and even the concept "love" is known to them only insofar as it refers to earthly enjoyments after which they chase impetuously to obtain them at any cost. Here you see the source of many suicides as the result of disgust, because what was desired could not be obtained. This also proves how little there is in such hearts of religion or of the concept of an eternal spiritual life, where a reward for good and evil awaits the deceased who will find himself in situations where, restricted to himself, he will have to eradicate all that is evil and wrong within him, before he can ever gain a better position in the realm of the spirits. For those people who really live for Me, follow Me and want to prove by their actions that they love Me, progress is, of course, considerably obstructed because they have to struggle against the opinion of the majority, reaping only hatred and derision for the blessing they spread, as was once the case with My disciples. However, this struggling, this fight against the powerful current of the material world, which was also the lot of My disciples, this struggling is necessary in order to attain the filial relationship to Me. For, if it were not God, the Supreme Being, Who wants to educate you to become His children, -by human standards and requirements it would be sufficient to live as the great majoritiy of people do, that is, to give Me tribute for having given you the best teachings but, otherwise, it be left to you how and when to conveniently adapt them to your worldly needs. But I did not mean it that way, when in those days I said to My disciples: "If a man love Me he will keep My Word!", and when again today I call to you: "If a man loves Me, he must prove it by his deeds!" (Sermons of the Lord, chap. 26)
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