Lesson 1. Attentiveness and Diligent Follow-Through

Before we begin studying anything, I suggest that we pay attention to our hearts and to the particular ways in which they perceive information and assignments in our school. It is very important to be attentive to every detail, to enter into the essence of things, and sometimes to stop in order to understand an assignment and complete it.

Small and simple tasks entrusted to a person very quickly reveal that person’s attitude and perception. It is written that he who is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. The one who handles small things responsibly has a good prospect of being entrusted with a great and responsible assignment.

We all have the right to make a mistake, but it may happen that, after becoming accustomed to being inattentive and making mistakes in small things, we will do the same in major tasks.

Once my daughter came to me with a complaint about her mathematics teacher, who had given her a poor grade. I decided to check her work. While solving the problem, she made a mistake at the very beginning. After that she performed precise calculations and did everything correctly, but that small mistake at the beginning affected the entire result, which proved to be wrong.

Attentiveness in learning the science of love is very important, because an error in this matter may cost you Eternal life. Of course, God knows how to help me correct myself at any time, but much still depends on my perception.

This School provides not only information but also assignments that should preferably be completed. You may do them privately for yourself, send them to the person who invited you to study, or share your answers with those who are studying together with you.

None of you is here under compulsion; you are here by your own voluntary decision. My goal is not simply to give you information, but also to understand how ready you are to do what is proposed here and to teach you to do everything that we will study here.

I understand the full responsibility that I have assumed, and therefore I take your instruction in the science of agape love very seriously. I ask God for wisdom and special new revelations in organizing and conducting the lessons so that I may then share them for your benefit.

Learning to love is what the Lord calls us to do. You decide for yourselves how best to respond to this calling.

Be prepared for great and hidden things that you did not know to be revealed to you during your studies. Your understanding of love will be enriched with new revelations that will help you find your way in any situation.

You may read or listen to this lesson and all the lessons that follow. But do not hurry on to the next one before completing the homework at the end of each lesson. You will find it at the very bottom or in the description.

Be attentive to what you study, and the Lord will speak to your heart and mind.

Do not begin what you do not intend to continue. Set aside your best time for studying the science of love, and it will begin to open to you and become understandable. The most interesting things await you in the near future. You will learn the secrets of love, friendship, and happiness, of love for one another, and of love for the members of your household. You will see the beauty of the Bible in the light of love and begin to see love in the light of the Bible.

Many wonderful truths, presented in a new way, await you. You will be able to apply them immediately in your life and see how they work.

Diligently putting the truths and assignments presented here into practice will form in you the good habit of loving at all times, under all circumstances, and in every relationship.

Everyone will know that you are Christ’s disciples if His agape love is among you.

We read in James 1:22: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” Everything is in your hands. The road is mastered by the one who walks it.

By the time you begin your studies with this very lesson, know that many people are already studying in this School and, through their testimonies, bear witness to the great and wonderful changes in their thinking, character, and habits. Many human or commonly accepted stereotypes are being destroyed forever.

Friends, I want to assure you that by studying the science of love, you will learn to love and will always do so from a pure heart. Love will open for you doors that may still be closed and will show you that narrow way, and all its beauty, upon which you may not yet be walking.

Do not hurry to begin in the middle or at the end. All our lessons are sequential and were written as our spiritual development and understanding progressed during this course of study.

May the Lord grant you His Holy Spirit, bless you throughout all the lessons, and reveal and show you the great and hidden things that you have not known.

1. Please read Romans 12:9–10; 1 Peter 1:22; Philippians 2:1–4; Ephesians 4:1–3, 31–32; James 4:17; 2:9–10; Luke 16:10; Isaiah 28:23–29; Proverbs 2:2; Matthew 7:24; and 1 Corinthians 14:33 in the light of our lesson.

2. What did you understand from this lesson?

3. Do you think God pays attention to small things?

4. Recall biblical figures who lost blessings because of a single mistake.

5. Is it important to God that we not only hear His Word but also gladly obey it? (See James 1:22; Revelation 1:3.)

6. How do you understand the statement, “Let love be without dissimulation”?

7. Should we express our love toward members of the opposite sex? (“Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love.”)

8. Have you had experiences in which small signs of attention developed into friendship?

9. What does “in honour preferring one another” mean? Give an example.

10. What remedy would you suggest for an inattentive person?

11. Suppose you have entered Eternity. Do you think inattentiveness and failure to carry out one’s responsibilities will be characteristic of the inhabitants of the Heavenly Kingdom?