Jesus in Love for One Another

Love for one another is the most beautiful thing that can be wished for a person.

It is worth noting that we are not given detailed instructions for such relationships. But we can quite count on the personal presence of Christ in this mutual decision. It is He who through the Holy Spirit begins to teach us this Heavenly science, taking into account our mentality, education, need, and thirst.

When I enter the world of my friend and open my heart to him, we begin to know each other from within and discover for ourselves a completely different world and different relationships. We were created by God for love, and when we return to God's original plan and know from personal experience the inner content of our friend's soul, we experience something special, something that the world cannot give or show. And our mutual love binds us with the strongest bonds of agape and friendship, which cannot be simply and painlessly broken.

The more I allow a friend to love me and give him the same, the stronger our love and friendship become. Love for one another is not a superficial party for a couple of days, but a conscious complete immersion in the world of one's neighbor and an emotional attachment to his heart.

And at this level of relationships, a sense of danger arises and the thought: do I not love my friend more than Jesus? Has this person dear to my heart not become closer to me than my dear Savior? Or perhaps I have taken Christ's place in my friend's heart? These are very serious questions that are worth paying attention to.

A dilemma arises. We begin to fulfill Christ's commandment about love for one another because we love Jesus and want to be obedient to Him in everything. But in knowledge and love for one another we become so close and dear and open up so deeply that it becomes scary whether God will punish us out of jealousy, because in our friendship and mutual love we no longer give the Lord as much time and attention as before.

And if my friend and I decide not to draw as close as the heart thirsts for, but to maintain distance in relationships in order to give God due time and place, will our love for one another not turn into a strange theater? It is difficult to give a direct answer to all these questions, since there are no clear instructions on this matter.

I would like to share one example from life that may somehow shed light on what is happening. When my children live in my house, who have reached their adulthood and can already choose their own path, I continue to care for them, feed them, be interested in their personal life, and ensure that they keep me informed of their plans, movements, and acquaintances. I have the right to demand that they come home at a certain time and go to bed. They can always turn to me, and I can enter their personal space without special invitation.

But something happens that I immediately notice. My daughter introduces me to her new friend and after some time asks for my blessing to create their family. What should I do? I understand that now she will never spend cozy evenings with me by the fireplace. Never again will I be able to just enter her room like this to chat about life. Moreover, she has no time at all to devote to me. But as a wise father I understand that I prepared her for this moment, and now I release her into independent sailing on the ship of her life friend. Although I do not cease to remain dad, our relationship is no longer the same.

I think that in our spiritual growth there are certain stages and transitions that God knows perfectly well, and to which He leads us as we grow.

Eternity will be filled with all kinds of living beings who will claim my time, heart, and reciprocity, giving themselves completely in return. And what is God to do with such children who will think from morning to evening about each other's happiness and devote all their eternal time to this?

And if another friend appears in my life with whom we decide to love each other? And if these friends become more and more, and we really love each other, and we have such close relationships that everyone recognizes us as Christ's disciples, then what should we do with this?

I cannot say that in our love for one another there is no God. He is there, but our relationship with Him has passed into our relationship with a friend. Although I do not cease to set aside time for personal prayers and reading spiritual things, I notice that more and more time is spent on friends, and their time is increasingly invested in me. And how else? After all, we love each other, and this love draws us to those we love and who reciprocate.

It would be foolish to spend one's whole life asking God for a loving friend, dreaming of such a relationship, studying this science, and then, having received an answer to these expectations and prayers, hide from friends because they have become very close and dear to me, and I became scared of such happiness. What if this is some kind of trap?

The Lord knows our dilemma and wants to comfort us in this matter. If I honestly share my experiences with Him and ask Him to destroy everything that emotionally binds me to a friend if it is very dangerous for me, and it does not disappear but becomes stronger and more joyful, then should I myself break this connection?

What should I say to my daughter if, after several months of living with her husband, she comes to me with repentance that she gives all her best time to her life friend and loves him so strongly that in this love she cannot spend much time with me as before? Should I really advise her to break off the relationship? Or will I tell her that she was raised for this time all her life?

The Lord knows perfectly well what I will encounter in my love and friendship with my friend. But He also commands me to love him. And this means that in such a relationship I can count on His special presence, which I have not experienced before. And when I see what an abundance of fruit the Holy Spirit brings in our friendship, I feel, I do not understand everything, but I calm down and go further. Love for one another is a great mystery about the last time that the Lord wants to reveal to those who embark on this path and will act according to His plan, but He was waiting for the participation of my friend and me.

Is it possible to make one's friend an idol and put him in Christ's place in our love for one another? My carnal heart wants only this, and the enemy of the soul will necessarily incline me or my friend to such a turn of events. But God's Spirit will immediately react to such a situation and will disturb the heart of the one they are trying to seat on God's throne. Perhaps there will be a crisis in the relationship, but it will not be destroyed, and the loving friend will gently make it clear that he is not Jesus to be loaded with everything and expect something special from him. He is a simple person and an ordinary friend who can love at all times and delve into the essence of things, but not perform miracles and change destinies.

The Lord protects from evil the hearts of those who decided to love one another and ask for His blessing on this.

1. Please read 1 Thess. 5:21; 1 Cor. 4:5; 2 Cor. 1:12; 1 Sam. 20:41-42; 2 Sam. 1:26; 1 Pet. 1:22; Phil. 4:6-9; John 13:34-35; 1 John 3:11,23-24; 4:7-8,12,21; Acts 10:25-26; 14:9-18; Rev. 19:10; Song 7:10-11 in light of this topic.

2. What did you understand from this topic?

3. What other verses from the Bible came to your mind?

4. Are we given somewhere a step-by-step instruction on how we should love one another?

5. When Jesus gave the commandment about love for one another, did He call us to violate the moral law? Is it worth calling sin what the Bible does not call sin?

6. If it is not customary to love one another in my church, should I introduce something new into it?

7. Do you think that in love for one another your hearts will become attached to each other? Or will your feelings be in complete isolation?

8. Does love for one another imply a special relationship with a friend in which we become especially happy?

9. What do you think, how does Jesus feel about us beginning to love one another with all our heart, and all our thoughts revolve around this event?

10. Can love for one another be confused with being in love? What is the difference between one and the other?

11. Is God present in our love for one another?

12. How can other people know that we are Christ's disciples from our love for one another?

13. Do you think that love for one another requires additional time and moreover the best time?

14. Is love for one another something new for you? Is it worth studying this science and immersing yourself headlong into practice?

15. What to do if I want to love a friend, learned all the theory about this love, made an announcement about it in church and through all my channels, but have not found a loving friend?