                         WESTERN WISDOM BIBLE STUDY:

                         Learning to Walk With Love

    Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven  is 
perfect.-Matthew 5:48. 

    Till we all come in the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son 
of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of Christ.-
Ephesians 4:13. 

    And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is 
love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein 
is our love made Perfect.ÄI John 4:16,17. 

    The perfection mentioned above is not an idle dream, but a living, 
developing condition toward which we are all striving. Since humanity first 
became aware of the great breach between the omnipotence of the Creator and 
the weakness of its own powers, as related in the first few chapters of 
Genesis, when Adam and Eve took their faltering first steps alone in "eating 
of the fruit of the tree of knowledge," man has gradually learned to walk 
upright and some few have even consciously walked with God. 

    It is interesting to note that Max Heindel avoided the use of the word 
karma in his books, preferring the word destiny or the phrase Law of 
Consequence. Too often this word karma has come to carry with it the 
connotation of punishment for a past offense. This is a perversion of its 
meaning, for this law is as impersonal and universal as the law of gravity 
in its application. It is outside and above the moral law of good and evil; 
the moral laws, based on the Ten Commandments were given to man to aid in 
his relationship with other men. 

    The universal laws, such as that of Consequence or Cause and Effect, and 
Harmony (the finite mind has cataloged seven universal laws) are laws that 
operate on the higher levels. Since the material world is only a reflection 
of the spiritual, it follows that, when the spiritual side of man comes into 
harmony with these divine laws, then the material working out is abrogated. 
By this we mean that when a man truly repents for a wilful disobedience of 
moral laws and comes again into harmony with the higher laws the effects of 
his wrong act are forgiven him. Max Heindel writes, "even though we are not 
able to make restitution for a wrong, the sincerity of our regret will 
suffice. Nature does not aim to 'get even,' or to take revenge. Recompense 
may be given to our victim in other ways." 

    The Law of Consequence may be summed up in the verse from Galatians: "Be 
not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soeth, that shall he 
also reap." As we have stumbled in our weakness, or overextended ourselves 
in our exuberance, or overstepped the law in ignorance, are we brought up 
short and learn what and where are our limitations. Thus do we gain wisdom 
through experience. Every sorrow or trouble that comes to us demonstrates 
some lack of soul-quality which only such an experience as this can teach, 
and so brings us closer to the "perfect man." 

    Earthly experiences, distilled into wisdom between incarnations, is the 
only way we have of learning to walk consciously with God. An intelligent 
acceptance of these limiting factors is the first step toward completing 
this particular lesson. When our mind has accepted it, then we can analyze 
and incorporate it into our way of life much as a child learning to walk 
learns to dodge obstacles or to remove them from his path. 

    It is this picture of the infant learning to walk, guided and helped and 
loved by his parents that makes the best comparison of learning to live in 
perfect harmony with God's laws. If we can read the Old Testament with this 
analogy in mind we can see beneath the fumblings of the old chroniclers, and 
trace the loving parental hand of God as He guided reluctant humanity. How 
well they learned to walk is to be measured by the great multitudes who 
recognized the higher ideals of the new teachings of man's perfectability as 
explained in the New Testament in Christ's work.
 
