Once I said that you can never have too many friends, giving the words my own meaning. Later, I saw that the statement could be understood in two ways. I meant that no matter how many friends you have, the number is never too great. But some people understood my words differently. They decided that a person should have only a few friends.
Let us imagine the following situation. You ask the Lord for the gift of agape love. He answers and gives it to you, beginning to teach you how to use this power. As a result, you grow in favor with God and people and exert an influence upon those around you. They are not blind. They see in you an answer to their expectations and begin drawing near to you. They understand that you are genuine and that your love for them is pure. They see that they are destined to receive your constant kindness. This irritates some people, while it draws others to you. Without even noticing it, you gain lifelong friends by investing your finest feelings and deeds in them. They tell others about you and draw toward you more people who are tired of lies and conditions. These souls become attached to you with all their hearts.
Wherever you go, God’s love within you goes with you, and it is impossible to hide. It will reveal you from your very first word. If someone’s heart is tuned to the same frequency, it will immediately respond to such an attitude. At some point, you realize that you have gained very many friends who like you and also want to be your friends. Some of them begin loving you in return, sincerely and from a pure heart.
A process of reevaluation begins. You are friendly, and this magnet draws all kinds of people toward you. You do not object to such company. You rejoice that because you possess God’s love, you can speak correctly about God’s will for this world. Yet the number of friends continues to grow. They do not leave you; they simply wait until you have time for them as well. But some understand that friendship is an ongoing personal relationship and expect precisely this approach from you. What should you do? You cannot stop, and the farther you go, the more friends you gain. Eternity then becomes the solution to this problem. You understand that there, you will be able to devote an unimaginable number of years to every friend, discovering a planet within him and allowing him to discover you.
But what should you do with those who have become attached to you with all their hearts here? I think you should continue loving them and tenderly preserve them in your heart as friends. They are greatly needed. You can always share your happiness, love, and friendliness with them when these things overflow within you and you urgently need someone to help relieve your heart of this burden. Friends receive very well whatever fills your soul. In reality, love can become so abundant that you simply want to give it away to everyone who responds. Strangers may not accept it, but friends will gladly receive it. Giving away what overflows within you is a serious problem for a loving person. Many friends have only small vessels in their hearts that can receive a little, while you pour a cold shower over them. They seem glad, yet they are bewildered by such an abundance of blessings and want to hide somewhere and recover.
Meanwhile, the magnet of your friendliness continues to operate, drawing out of every hiding place those who respond to it.
We are given the remarkable power of love, and its possibilities are immense. Imagine a tsunami wave as tall as a twenty-story building rapidly approaching you. Love is far greater in its destructive power and influence. It destroys every empty stereotype and false idea about itself. It removes bad moods, washes away sorrow and loneliness, utterly destroys sin, produces an immense restoration of the mind, and shapes the human will. Love deals mercilessly with all its enemies, destroying them and driving them away forever.
Do you need such a life? Imagine constant joy, the smiles of friends, words of love and encouragement, happiness that does not disappear even when your pockets and stomach are empty, inspiration from new victories, and the discovery of new horizons. All of this, watered with love, brings peace to the heart. Can you live with this? Do you need such a life?
The greatest problem is finding someone to make happy when you are bursting with the desire to do so. How strongly these people resist and refuse to believe that you will succeed. Yet you do succeed.
Once I understood that friendship exists and operates together with love, I took this understanding with me to a camp meeting and decided to share it with everyone. I offered my friendship to everyone I met and spoke with. My heart rejoiced over this experience. Later, we all went home. Some time passed. One day, I called my friends, and they told me that other friends who were visiting them sent me their greetings. I asked for their names and could not understand where I had become friends with them. They reminded me of that camp meeting and told me how I had met them, offered myself to them as a friend, and received their response. I felt so ashamed. I simply could not remember them. I do not object to friendship with people, but I should remember those to whom I offer it. At that time, however, I desired this experience so greatly that I had no idea what a foolish situation I would enter. I learned something. Now I try to remember everyone to whom I offer something, and I ask God to bless my decisions about friendship. But over time, I gained so many friends that I decided to be a friend to all people, especially to those of my own faith, so that I would treat everyone in this way.
I also plan in Eternity to become a friend to all the redeemed who will be taken from Earth to Heaven and to all God’s Angels. I want to know each one personally and have a very close relationship with everyone. I believe Eternity will make this goal possible. I believe we will be given special abilities there to carry out these plans.
I understand that since we are all one family, brothers and sisters, the best relationships among us are love and friendship in obedience to God and faith in Jesus—relationships that bring happiness. If these are absent, then something is wrong with our Christianity. If I receive this truth and choose such an approach in love, who can prevent me from living this way?
Whoever desires to have many friends must also show himself friendly. And it works. But this is not merely my decision; it is a gift from Heaven. It is impossible to act this way while possessing an evil heart filled with sin and deceit.
God desires to be glorified in my life, including through my friendliness. He works through this gift, saving friends from many harmful things.
When you have many friends, how can you communicate with them all? They are like stars: you cannot always see them, but they are present. Love solves this problem as well. As the years pass, such relationships do not disappear but remain just as joyful and friendly. I am open to everyone. Of course, if they all came at the same moment, it would be very difficult to receive them at once, but the Lord has settled this matter too. Do not be afraid to become my friend. It is a good undertaking, although it lasts for life. And it is so joyful!
All of this is possible only in Jesus. He is the One Who joins our hearts and relationships through His love. Without Him, there is emptiness, darkness, and death. But I choose life, happiness, love, and friendship. May the Lord bless me in this choice. His blessing makes rich and adds no sorrow with it.
Bible Verses for Reflection
Proverbs 18:24; Colossians 3:15; 2 Timothy 3:2; 1 Peter 3:8; Revelation 21:1–3; Leviticus 19:17–18.