The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.

John 7:7

The world hates followers of Jesus.  The verdict against humanity is this, that men, even though confronted with their own sin in the light, prefer to kill those who show them they are wrong, rather than coming with humility before an Almighty, merciful God (John 3:19).  Rather than feeling with their heart, they justify, set up road blocks, walls, and excuses that they cannot tell right from wrong any more.

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Isaiah 5:20

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So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

Ephesians 4:17-19

The light of the Lord permeates everything we touch and do as a believer.  The light of the glory of the Lord so permeated Moses that, when the man of God died, the angel Michael contested with the devil over what they would do with the bones (Jude 1:9).  The glory so filled Elisha, that even when his bones were long dead and dry, a dead man falling against them returned to life (2 Kings 13:21).

When we approach God’s Word, we must realize that it is Spiritual.  The world we understand and see is physical, and while it has a bearing on the spiritual, it in itself is not spiritual.  What we see and what man thinks of as being spiritual is plainly not (John 3:3-5).

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Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.

John 5:33-35

Light reveals.  Light illuminates.  Light is righteousness, and darkness is evil.

In all places, the true light that gives light to every man, Jesus Christ, is always a portrait of illumination, but also of righteousness.  It is the voice of Him who is above, who is true light, the Father of Lights.

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Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

1 Peter 1:22

To love each other from the heart, to this we were called.

 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Matthew 18:35

To forgive each other from the heart, of this we are required.

The Kingdom consists of that which is from the heart, and from love.  This is the substance of our Grace, the flavor of our abundant life (John 10:10), and the essence of our existence.

Yet, it is where we, for the most part, do not find ourselves always living.

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Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

1 Timothy 1:5

And, if all of our commandments is not love, charity, out of a pure heart and of a good conscience, what is it for?  If we do not end up with a real, un-manipulated and un-faked faith, have we more than just begun?  In all of our getting, get wisdom, for it is the principle thing!

It was out of love that God killed Ananias and Sapphira.  It was out of love that He set an example for the church, just as He did with Sodom and the world.  It was out of love that He killed His only Son so that we would live, living His life.  It was out of love that He sent forth preachers, and prophets, and evangelists, teachers, and apostles, that the Earth might know the only name by which is Salvation, Jesus Christ.

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Acts 4:12

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The fullness of the Spiritual life is a heart inspired by love that walks in responsibility.

Jesus, our Pattern and Teacher, was a man under authority.  Much was given to Him, and much was required of Him from the Father.

When the Life of the Spirit and the love of our Savior grows to such a point, it encompasses and takes the place of every other thing.  It is our all in all.  While for some, this may come quickly, for others, it has grown over time.

But, the place of the Spiritual man is life in Christ.

There is no life in another.  He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

For Paul said that when our obedience is made perfect, our every disobedience would be punished.

Is this at odds with the Cross and the Grace of God?  No more than continuing to sin that Grace would abound.

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The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:

1 Corinthians 2:15 NIV

You see, it is the spiritual man that is free.

According to Paul, he, the spiritual man, judges all things, and yet is judged by no one.

But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

1 Corinthians 2:15 KJV

He that is spiritual judges.  He that is spiritual is not subject to other men’s judgement.

The man led by the Spirit is not under the law.  He neither looks directly to it for his direction nor does he receive criticism or accusation that he has violated it or has transgressed it.

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Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.

1 Corinthians 6:13 (portion)

Our bodies were made for the Lord.  Consider the parable of the yeast in Matthew 13:33.  The kingdom is likened to measure of yeast which a woman hid in a large quantity dough until the whole lump was leavened.  That little bit of something worked its way through the entire lump, changed it, and transformed it into something better.  What happens when the Holy Spirit comes into us?  Let us look a moment at some examples.

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I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity and striving after wind.

Ecclesiastes 4:4

There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death (Proverbs 14:12, Proverbs 16:25).  There is that which looks like labor and achievement, but, as a despondent King Solomon observed, it all the result of rivalry, envy, between a man and his neighbor.  It is vanity, meaningless, and a striving after the wind.

Consider the words of the apostle John.  He said that everyone who truly loves is born of God (1 John 4:7).  If love is the restoration God is looking to bring to the human heart (Matthew 22:40), then love is principally the one thing which fallen man cannot do (1 Peter 1:22, Galatians 5:6).  There is no true benevolence, as King Solomon pointed out, there is no real industry.  What appears to be love at the outset is really a misidentified attempting to gratify the flesh.

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Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

John 17:24

In the glory realm, everything becomes easy.  Many people talk about glory, many people use the world loosely, but the glory is something distinct, something specific–it is real.  It is the very atmosphere of heaven.

Things are accelerated in the glory.  What took years before can happen suddenly, because of the glory realm, for it is the timeless, eternal realm of God.  And, the glory is in the church.

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