The Beauty of a Friend’s Heart

“…God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16).

The Lord loves His creation and tenderly cares for it. Even the most wicked people are not deprived of God’s love—their hearts continue to beat, and the rains of blessings never cease to water their lives. But does the sinful man see such care and love toward himself? Does he fall on his knees in tenderness and joy at the realization that he is loved by God? Sadly, we witness a persistent indifference toward the Giver of life and an insatiable desire to receive His generosity and blessings.

Answer honestly this question: “Why are you waiting for Christ? Because you are tired of the evil in this world, or because you love Jesus?” Try to remember this question and ask yourself daily.

There is something beautiful in love that goes beyond standard thinking. You love because it is right, and it makes life more meaningful. In the light of love, every person looks rather unusual, and you begin to see many good qualities of their soul that are skillfully hidden beneath the outward importance of behavior. God loves every person always and unconditionally. But who among people rejoices at such an attitude and thinks about their Heavenly Father? Who is inspired by God’s constant agape? And how do people react to the words, “God loves you”?

But in the thinking of people indifferent to God, changes begin to happen when they see human love toward themselves, hear kind words addressed to them, feel gentle touches, and receive useful gifts. All this stirs their minds, and they try to understand what is happening. The love of God, expressed through man, becomes visible and tangible, and many are ready to accept it, receiving maximum blessings from such an attitude. However, usually they do not thank God but glorify His messengers. Yet the Lord is ready to continue blessing His creation through the hands of those who desire to be channels of His love.

All of us who live and breathe on this earth are God’s creations and belong to Him by right of the Creator. But among us there are His children, who are born of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ. And this is a special people who are called God’s children and have an extraordinary status in the eyes of Heaven. These differences should not be ignored. God’s love for all people is unconditional, but His sons and daughters receive special blessings from above because they are children of God. Yet they do not always understand the care and love of their Heavenly Father toward them. That is why we were given the commandment to love one another.

Heaven expects each of us to understand Christ’s commandment about our mutual love. And in such relationships, there can be nothing improper, for it is the clear command of the Lord. But somehow, for many of God’s children, this commandment always seems new, or they simply do not know it, though they remember that it exists.

To love one another is a mutual, conscious agreement about unconditional, good, reciprocal relationships with each other. One-sided relationships are also love, but not love for one another. It is more like a one-way street, where you cannot go back, and no one is moving toward you.

If in my life a miracle of transformation happens, and I receive the gift of love from above, this does not yet mean that I have fulfilled Christ’s commandment to love one another. For this I need a loving friend, or at least someone who does not yet love me but, like me, desires to be obedient to God. The greatest joy and wonderful event happens when these two loving loners meet and begin to love one another.

I cannot fulfill Christ’s commandment in passing or casually. Just telling someone that you love them and hearing the same in return is not love for one another but an exchange of kind words.

To love one another is a conscious decision of two parties who understand that now they belong to each other in this love, and their lives have intertwined into one united agape with common points of connection. It is not a marital union, but the desire of two hearts of God to unite in mutual love and their mutual agreement for deep and unending development of subsequent relationships. From childhood, we all dream of such love and wait for it all our lives, thinking it is worth giving everything for. But what do I do to receive it? And the Faithful Witness counsels me to buy from Him this wonderful gold of heavenly origin.

Love for one another calls me to open my heart to my friend and my friend to open their soul to me. This does not mean that I will immediately see everything and discover all the treasures of my neighbor’s soul. It means that now we can continually discover the valuable qualities of our hearts in each other and share these discoveries with each other and with the people around us. And this is an eternal process of eternal discoveries of one another. That is why we are given Eternity—to learn at least a little about how wonderful and amazing we are on the inside, containing in the depths of our hearts countless treasures of good qualities of the soul.

In love for one another, we comprehend the power and depth of this agape. But this does not mean that such knowledge confines us in a closed union of two loving hearts. In learning to love one another, we receive heavenly knowledge of this love and are able to share it with others, passing on to our neighbors the experience of our relationship that was born in the practical exercise of our love for one another.

God desires to see such love in our families as well. But sometimes families are created for the union of bodies, without the desire to know the heart of one’s partner. But even this can be corrected if a mutual decision is made to love one another even within the family and to do everything necessary for this from one’s own side.

Love for one another opens up many perspectives in serving God in the spirit of love. We unite in joint prayers and ask for many things, and when we are in this union, the promise of Jesus begins to work for us—that if two agree to ask about anything, they will receive an answer from the Father (Matthew 18:19). A friend’s love becomes for me additional inspiration and support. Even when a friend is physically far away, their kind words can bring true miracles into my life. We become God’s blessing for one another, enriching each other without bringing sorrow.

Love for one another is a great mystery of fellowship between two loving hearts that can only be understood within these relationships. The depth of such agape is covered by God’s hand, and no one from outside can open that inner world which unites friends in their mutual love.

We do not need to wait for the Second Coming to begin keeping God’s commandment. Eternity has already begun through our faith in Jesus, and our love for one another opens to us all the beauty of those heavenly relationships of the distant future, which we can already experience today and now.

And whatever wonders I may discover in my dear friend, all this I also see in my precious Jesus. It is He who is given to me in the heart of my neighbor, and to my neighbor—through me. And in our agape for one another we pass everything on to the Lord, from whom we have received it all, to return it back in the spirit of love and gratitude.

1. Please read Proverbs 17:17; 1 Corinthians 16:14; John 13:34-35; 1 Thessalonians 3:12; 5:21-22; 2 Thessalonians 3:5; Jeremiah 31:3; 33:3; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 Timothy 1:5; Colossians 3:14; Philippians 1:8-11; Ephesians 3:18-19; 4:15; Galatians 5:6; 1 Corinthians 13:12-13; Song of Solomon 5:10 in light of this chapter.

2. What did you understand from this topic?

3. What other Bible verses came to your mind?

4. Is it worth starting something you do not plan to continue?

5. Do you think if you and your friend agree to love one another from a pure heart, something will come of it?

6. Should I talk to God about my relationship with my friend and ask His blessing for our friendship?

7. Is it enough to have at least one friend with whom you will love one another, or does God have other plans for this matter?

8. What is the purpose of mutual love for one another? Would polite treatment be enough?

9. Do I fall under the curse of the law if I choose a friend of the opposite sex?

10. What did Jesus mean when He gave the commandment to love one another?

11. Does the commandment to love one another belong to those commands that must be strictly observed?

12. Do you believe that in mutual love many more beautiful qualities of a friend’s soul are revealed?

13. Is it acceptable to tell a friend with whom you share mutual love about your love for them? Or must this be proven by deeds?

14. If I do not yet have such friends with whom I share mutual love, where should I look for them, and is it possible to find them?

15. Is the commandment to love one another still relevant in our time?