Is That All?

Friends, in the preceding lessons we examined six stages of faith and saw what happens to a believer on the way to God and in life with Him. Looking back on my past with Christ and remembering it, I can say that those very unpleasant moments in my spiritual growth and the difficult experiences through which I had to pass and which I had to endure were the greatest blessing to my soul. During that time, the Lord removed from me all uncleanness and every carnal trait of character without injuring my individuality. Now, when I sense or see another trial approaching, I am not afraid to enter it, although from a human perspective I do not always desire it. Each time I look to Jesus and quietly ask Him, “You will not leave me today, will You?” I immediately answer myself, “No, He will not,” because I remember His promises that He will allow no one to pluck me out of His hand.

At school I was taught that if something is limited by a certain number, then when I reach the final digit I have the whole, and that is the end. But what comes next? Does this rule apply to a stage of faith? As I strive toward love and apply all my effort and desire to reach, know, receive, and discover it, where do I arrive? Do I enter a dead end where everything has been attained and there is nothing more toward which to strive? Will there be another stage of development? After all, even “Peter’s ladder” ends with love. Is that truly all?

Such thoughts may arise when I am at an early stage and try to apply human ideas to spiritual things. My mind is accustomed to living within a framework and defining everything by artificial boundaries. Once it has established them, it calms down and feels secure in its complete understanding of what is happening. But agape love is the exception to every rule. It is not the end of a stage of faith, but the beginning of a new and perfect life in Christ Jesus. Only now do I begin to comprehend the meaning of life. It is in love that the potential of unlimited possibilities opens before me—possibilities that I can continually discover and realize. I begin to understand many of God’s actions in the past that I viewed in the poor light of my perception. I am continually overtaken by discoveries of the beauty and depth of God’s character, and I cannot stop in this knowledge, for nothing is more fascinating than discovering the heart of God. Love presents this knowledge in its proper light.

My education did not end at the final stage of faith; it only began. An entire ocean of new possibilities and wonderful prospects opened before me. I am studying the science of love, and I understand that this ocean can never be fully comprehended or brought to a point where I can say that I have reached the limit and there is no path beyond it.

There is also a seventh stage, but it is no longer a stage of faith. It is a personal meeting with the One Who will come for us to take us with Him forever and for all eternity. Then my faith in the invisible God will receive its absolute reward for all time. Eternity, with all its riches and glory, will be given to me, and love will be its enduring meaning of endless life—a life that will dissolve every fear and apprehension within itself and make unceasing development possible.

My eyes will see God. The One Whom I came to know by faith will be revealed to my sight, and without fear I will behold the faces of the Father and the Son, being changed into the same image from glory to glory.

But for now, faith is still in force. I have eyes of faith that see God in His word, in His promises, in my life, and in the lives of those close to me. I see this image upon the faces of my believing friends and admire Christ as I watch those who are led by Him. In their words I very often hear the voice of God, Who encourages, comforts, strengthens, points out mistakes, reproves, gladdens, and does what is beneficial and works together for good.

I live by faith, and it carries me through severe trials.

Love is not the end of the war, but the beginning of its fiercest battles. The enemy of the soul has not died; instead, he has entered an indescribable rage, knowing that he has lost me forever and understanding that I will draw many others with me into Eternity and, with God’s help, tear them from the chains of delusion, unbelief, despair, and distorted stereotypes. But such a war does not frighten me; I have long been in the ranks. It is not frightening to be wounded or to fall beneath the weight of a burden. What is frightening is to fall and not rise again, to lose the hand of God, to imagine something great about myself, and to become exalted in my own eyes.

Love is given for this very purpose: to carry me through every trial and grant victory in all things.

To be an overcomer is the most beautiful advantage of love. When you have several million in your pocket and need to buy a small roll, you do not worry about whether you have enough money. It is the same with Love. It gives me enormous potential and wealth, yet at the same time makes me poor in spirit. I know that I possess it, but I continually need it. I fear being left without it, although I am immersed in it over my head. It fills me within and without. Yet my heart is a weak and leaky vessel that God must continually fill with His oil, for if it ceases, I will simply be emptied and will be unable to satisfy this need anywhere. I place my new heart beneath the waterfall of God’s love and allow these waters to pass through me and pour into the lives of my friends, blessing them with little streams of endless love.

The special nature of Eternal love is that it places me in eternal dependence upon God and cannot exist apart from Him. It simply is not present where God is absent. If God stops this river, where will I go? Who will give me this water of life? I know no one, and I simply do not possess it within myself. I am “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” Where shall I go without Christ? What am I capable of without His love? Here is true fear and horror! Yet for some reason many people choose precisely this path. Where is the logic?

An intoxicated person is unable to value eternal things. He has no need of Heavenly treasures. But I can give hope to such people, and God inspires the necessary words for this purpose, while each person must decide for himself.

The stage of love is the beginning of the longest course of study—one that cannot be comprehended in this life. This is why God gives me Eternal life: so that during it I may understand at least a little of the depth of this quality of the soul and experience in practice its influence in the lives of my friends. Only there, after billions of trillions of years, will I suddenly realize that love is something very good and beneficial to my soul and that it is simply impossible to live without it. With shame I will admit to my friends that at last I truly love them, while all this time I had only been striving toward it. Then, after trillions of decillions of years, I will suddenly understand how far I was from true love when I declared it to my friends. Now I will have begun to understand something more fully and will have a beautiful opportunity to go deeper into this science and come to know great and inaccessible things that I do not know.

It does not trouble me that I still know so little about love. It has been given to me so that I may come to know, study, test, and apply it. My Teacher is not a human being but the Lord Himself, Who will teach me everything I need to know, reveal everything I did not understand, and bring to my remembrance what I forgot or failed to consider.

1. Please read 1 Thessalonians 4:3; Colossians 2:8, 10; Philippians 3:14–15; 2:13–15; Ephesians 4:13, 15; 3:16–21; 1 Corinthians 13:11–13; Hebrews 5:8; 1 John 3:2–3; 3:18–20; John 17:26; Jeremiah 1:9, 11–12.

2. Did you find something useful for yourself? What did you understand?

3. What do you think: is love the end of the journey or the beginning of new discoveries?

4. Will our education and spiritual growth continue after the Second Coming?

5. How do people at the sixth stage of faith differ from everyone else?

6. What does the Lord expect from those who receive God’s love?

7. Are special obligations placed upon a loving person?

8. Is it difficult to love?