A Firm Anchor

I could not previously have imagined that anyone could bind me to themselves so strongly. When I heard about other people’s heartfelt attachment to one another, I considered them narrow and sentimental, for there is so much that is interesting and instructive around us, and yet you limit yourself to one person and begin to build your world around them. But when such a person appeared in my life and began to give me what the whole world cannot give, my worldview began to change.

At first this Person was JESUS. He drew me by His Love and friendliness. And the more I know Him, the more I discover the power, depth, and beauty of GOD’s Love for me and for all people. The LORD cares for me so tenderly and treats my imperfection with such Love that I have no words to relate all my thoughts and feelings toward Him. He drew me to Himself and bound my life to His by the invisible threads of sacred Love. With my own mouth and my own heart I dedicated myself to serving Him and living with Him; I entered into covenant with Him through water baptism and joined His people. And now everywhere I go, I take JESUS with me, and He never leaves me alone. And in this mutual Love of ours, JESUS gives me His visible representatives of His Kingdom, desiring that we also love one another and in this Love bear faithful witness of Him. Though we are imperfect, and not everything succeeds immediately, we have one common Friend, Who teaches us mutual Love and gives it to us at all times.

The very presence of friends in my life binds me to them by invisible threads of heartfelt attachment and makes me dependent upon their Love to such an extent that I always want, once again, to make sure that they are mine and have not disappeared anywhere. And even when such dear and beloved friends become more and more numerous, our heartfelt attachment does not vanish anywhere, but adorns our relationships and protects us from every kind of evil.

However, when an interesting person by the name of “she” appeared in my life, I did not imagine how this wonder could bind my heart to herself, and hers to me, so strongly that we would be unable to live without each other. More precisely, we could physically, but our hearts would always strive for spiritual union. And since nothing hindered us from getting to know each other more closely, we did not resist this natural attraction but tested whether it was from GOD—whether it would prove some terrible mistake. Receiving each time evidence of GOD’s approval of our relationship and confirmation of His Love, we ceased to resist one another and decided to form a family union.

I did not know what a family gives a person until I had one. It is a new world of relationships in which you are no longer alone, but together with the one who so successfully complements you with her characteristics and opposite view of life and of all sorts of things. And this fragile creation binds you to itself so firmly that you can no longer go anywhere—and do not wish to. However far we may be from one another, these invisible bonds unite our hearts, and nothing separates them. Whatever life’s storms may try to carry my ship off into the open sea, I know that I have a reliable anchor that has firmly tied me to a quiet harbor and securely holds me in my home.

My home is now where my wife is. However many moves there may be in our life, wherever she will be, there will be our world, which we will arrange together, creating in it our personal family comfort.

Things and household items make our existence in this world easier. The building in which we live we begin to call our home, but we know that all this on earth is temporary and that we have a true eternal Home in Heaven, where we shall someday arrive. And from this sinful world we will be able to take there only our characters and our relationships. Therefore we decided to invest our best efforts in the development and formation of precisely these features of our earthly life.

The more we communicate with each other, the more new details we learn about ourselves and about the other, and the more strongly we are bound by the invisible bonds of our hearts to one another. And this attachment is so strong that it helps us always to find the best time for fellowship and to share with each other what is inaccessible to others.

I begrudge nothing of myself for my wife—neither my time nor all my money, for the earning of which I spend part of my life. It is very joyful for me to understand that she treats me in exactly the same way and does not spare all of herself, agreeing always to be mine.

And in this unity of ours called “family,” not only do I have a reliable anchor that so firmly holds me and binds me to home, but my spouse also possesses something similar in relation to me. She arranges all her plans and all her affairs so that, after completing them, she may return to me and gladden me with her presence. And I, understanding her attraction to me, do not hinder her in achieving this goal, but gladly receive and cherish her.

I have heard that there are families where a grumbling or dictatorial spirit is practiced. It is difficult for me to imagine this in our relationship, but I think it is like a person who chops at those strong chains of heartfelt attachment that invisibly unite each other into one whole. One time will not destroy a strong union; but if such a spirit becomes constant, the anchor can break loose, and the ship will be carried off to an unknown place and dashed upon rocks that will not adorn your life but rather destroy it.

But the LORD can save a family even in such situations, showing a better way out. One small sin is capable of spoiling the strongest relationship if it is allowed to be present in life. Though we have decided to love one another unconditionally, the purity and strength of this Love depend upon GOD’s constant presence in it. Only He can unfailingly detect every evil and uproot it according to our prayers and desires.

I am bound to my wife by the firmest anchor of GOD’s Love, which I begged especially for her. This does not make me her slave, but moves me constantly to think about her happiness and to do all that will bring her benefit and joy. How wonderful it is to be free in JESUS and at the same time to be so strongly bound to Him and to those whom you love greatly. Although there are many sisters in my life whom I also love, and they reciprocate, none of them claims my anchor for her own life, for it has found its place in the heart of my spouse. Though I am bound by the strongest bonds of GOD’s Love to my dear friends, my family is closer than all of them and brings far more special joy and Love than others can give, although the Love of many friends is just as pure, strong, and firm.

How interesting it is to sail in the ocean of GOD’s Love, having fellowship with one another, splashing about in joyful blessings, and plunging into the still waters of this Agapē in order to know by one’s own experience its depth and purity!

And the most interesting thing in our family is that we are always near, to be available to one another at all times.

1. Please read John 3:16; 1 John 5:10–12; Gen. 1:27–28; 2:22–24; 3:16; 1 Cor. 7:3–5; 11:8–12; Prov. 11:16; 12:4; 18:22; 19:14; 31:10; Eph. 5:31–33; 1 Thess. 4:9–12 in light of this lesson.

2. What did you understand from this topic?

3. What other Bible verses came to your memory?

4. Is the family union something firm?

5. What binds a man and a woman in family relationships?

6. At what moment does a husband’s attachment to his wife begin?

7. What will happen to a family in which there is no heartfelt attachment to one another?

8. What should I do if I love my wife but am not drawn to her?

9. Is it good for a person to have his own home—and, in the home, the one who belongs to him?

10. What do you consider to be your home? Are you familiar with the words from the song: “The river flowed, flowed by…”?

11. Is there anything in family relationships that is common to and similar to relations with CHRIST?

12. Is the awareness of attachment and belonging to someone a human thing or ordained by GOD?

13. Is every marriage joined together by GOD? Mark 10:9.

14. Why must we not separate what GOD has joined together?

15. Is there anything in common between the divorce of people and the rupture of relations with CHRIST?