Lesson 206. Love Available to Everyone

The Bible contains a great many mysteries, unexplained prophecies, various kinds of information, descriptions, narratives, and explanations, behind which stands God Himself.

Every reader of Holy Scripture will find much that is useful and interesting in this Book of books. How many times the Bible has been banned, and now it is available to every person in his native language, even in those countries where it is still prohibited. With the help of smartphones, God’s Word can reach every home on our planet.

Whenever anyone takes a book into his hands, he begins reading it from the first page; the same thing happens with the Bible. Those who hold it for the first time begin to comprehend the truth from its first chapters.

I remember how I opened this Book for the first time, read through the seventh chapter of Genesis, and realized that I had understood nothing. I closed it and placed it on a shelf like a talisman so that it would protect our home. Sometimes I even expressed my reverence for God by taking this Book in my hands and kissing it, showing my devotion, even though I myself was living in sin. I understood this and found pleasure in such a life, although I knew that there would be a reckoning; but I did not know how to escape from this darkness.

And every time I took the Bible in my hands and began to read, I closed it again very quickly because I understood nothing. My mind had been damaged by sin, and this kept me from understanding the Word of God, even though I read a great deal of all kinds of rubbish, and read it quickly.

But light came into my life as well. I believed in Jesus, invited Him into my life as my Lord, and when He came, He opened my mind.

I remember that time when I read the Bible from morning until evening and marveled at how easy it was to understand and what interesting things were written in it.

My life began to be transformed, and in my superficial knowledge I felt like a professor of theology. I was very happy and greatly thirsted for new discoveries. The few books available at that time helped me very much, and my thirst for the Word of God was so great, and new revelations always brought me such joy, that I simply glowed within and waited for the moment when I could once again plunge into the depths of God’s Word.

I sought the truth and found it. I wanted to join God’s people, and I searched for those who lived according to the Bible. The Lord sent me different friends, and together with them I opened the Bible and went deeper into the knowledge of it. I wanted so much to find the right church, one that lived according to the Word. I knew its name, but for some reason I did not go there. Instead, I associated with those believers who were friendly toward me, and together we learned what was being revealed to us.

Ellen White’s book The Great Controversy helped me greatly. Through the light from this book, I understood many very important truths, learned my true condition, saw the way out, discovered God’s love, understood the time in which we live, heard the Savior’s call, learned the future of our planet and the destiny of all believers and the wicked, discovered the events of the last days, learned the truth about the Second Coming of Christ, about who Satan is and how he destroys people, and discovered the new world of the future incorruptible life. And all these discoveries were in complete harmony with the Bible.

But I was searching for those who love God and live and walk in the truth. My expectations of believers were very high, and I did not want to unite with those who did not live according to the commandments. Even the first church in which I was baptized could not keep me—and did not try to—and I left it because I could not tolerate lawlessness or welcome the sin that I had already learned to distinguish clearly.

For a very long time I searched for God’s people, and I continued doing so even in a foreign country where I had come to live. I wanted to have true friends who loved Jesus and lived in obedience to God’s commandments. But whenever I entered a new community of believers, I saw that no one there needed me, and I left. As a result, it all came down to my sitting at home and educating myself. I did not yet know that God’s church is a hospital for sinners and that its members are patients, nurses, and doctors who find healing within its walls, help one another, and grow together.

But the Lord knew my time as well. We were found by people who had heard about my wife and me, and they invited us to join them because they wanted to become friends with us. We entered a small congregation that became our family in a foreign country.

The years passed, and with them came spiritual growth. I smile as I remember the mistakes and ideas with which I began my journey with God, and how I had to learn everything; therefore, I am now very patient with the mistakes and understanding of other people. I was also in opposition to the church and tasted that spirit as well, but I did not remain there, because I realized in time that it was the path to death. I learned much while living the Christian life and fellowshipping with brothers and sisters, but I always had a higher goal—to love truly. I read 1 Corinthians 13 closely and understood only that I was very far from this ideal and that these truths were, for me, merely an incomprehensible theory—understandable to the mind, but far from the heart.

I did not know how to experience this within myself. And I searched for someone who would teach me to love. But after many years, I understood that I was still very far from this condition and that it was some lofty ideal attainable only by the apostles.

Then a crisis came into my life. I understood that everything in this world around me was collapsing. I cried out to God and, for some reason, began to ask for the love that I did not possess and did not even know, though I knew that God had it. And He answered. I declared my faith that I had been heard. Then came the realization that I loved. I did not understand what it was, but I understood that it had happened. These were not feelings, but something that convinced me that something new and unusual had happened in my life, although it was still very small and required care and gentle attention. With joy I began to discover it, delve into it, study it, try it, practice it, and experiment with it. And I saw that although it was something very small in my consciousness, it possessed tremendous power and never lost. I began to test it in my family and saw that it worked; I began trying it with other people, and it did not leave. Oh, how I longed for explanations of what it was and how to govern it! I moved forward blindly, like an explorer, falling and rising and continuing onward. No one told me what I am writing to you, but little by little I gathered these treasures in my heart, comparing them with the Bible and longing to understand the power of this love.

And I discovered that it was not some new feeling, but the Lord Himself within me, Who called Himself by this name. And everything became clear to me.

Love is the Spirit of God within me; it is that new heart which He so longs to give me and upon which He desires to write all His laws and ordinances. It is not a romantic experience, but a new consciousness that does not deprive me of my freedom of choice or the memory of my past mistakes. And I am at war, but not as a commander leading the whole planet, but as one who is in the Victor’s camp. Even when a battle is raging all around, with a child’s trust I press close to the Lord and ask Him to play with me in the sandbox, and He sits down beside me and plays. Through His stories He prepares me for the fire into which He sometimes places me. And I ask Him to be there with me as well, and He nods.

1. Please read Hebrews 12:2–3; Galatians 2:20; 1 Peter 4:12–14, 19; 5:10–11; Daniel 3:24–27; Malachi 3:3–4; Isaiah 1:25; Job 23:10; Jeremiah 29:12–13; 33:3; and Jude 24–25 in the light of our lesson.

2. Are you interested in hearing about other people’s experiences of life with God?

3. Can you share your own experiences of spiritual growth?

4. Do you believe that God’s love is available to you as well?

5. Should one ask God for greater love, or should it come on its own?

6. If this love is available, why does not everyone possess it, and why do those who receive it sometimes possess it only for a short time?

7. Why does God not begin my spiritual growth with agape love, but give it after I come to know the truth?

8. Why did Jesus give the commandment to love one another not at the beginning of His ministry, but only shortly before His death?