The Lord has endowed each of us with the gift of communication. From childhood, we are taught our native language, in which we can freely express our thoughts and feelings and understand what we hear from those around us.
Because we possess reason and the ability to analyze, we receive the gift of distinguishing good from evil. Our will can make a conscious choice, preferring the path of life and the direction of thought formed under the influence of my surroundings.
The Lord created us for Himself and, at the same time, gave us to one another. Although sin separated us from God, the Lord did everything possible to bring us back to Himself and reveal His love to us.
When I understand that God exists and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, I begin communicating with Him. Within this fellowship, I receive everything necessary for the salvation of my soul.
Communication is the ability to express your thoughts and plans while also understanding the plans and statements of those with whom you speak. It is an opportunity to exchange actions in relation to one another, accepting or rejecting what is offered to you. Without communication, we cannot be human.
Communication with God involves exchanging plans, knowledge, and abilities, waiting for what has been promised to be fulfilled, and bringing my goals into harmony with God’s will. God does not enter into a dialogue with me in the commonly understood sense of the word. Our conversation takes place through my prayers and my appeals to Him concerning various matters. He speaks with me through His written Word, through my conscience by means of the Holy Spirit, through inspired people who left their writings to the world, and through those around me who are receptive to the Lord’s voice.
Through fellowship with God, I learn about many advantages of the spiritual life, understand my mistakes, receive an opportunity to repair what has been broken and destroyed, obtain what I could never acquire on my own, and much more.
In prayer, I express my faith and love toward my Savior, tell Him about my plans, share my thoughts and desires, and receive an answer concerning everything.
Christ’s commandment that we love one another contains a special plan for the time of the end. Through this very love, the Lord desires to dwell within us and within our communication. Christ’s disciples lived for more than three years with the One Who is Love, yet they never learned to love one another. Jesus had to draw special attention to this in the commandment He gave before His death.
It should also be noted that the command to love one another was revealed to a small circle of dedicated people among the disciples, who were united by the love of Christ. The Lord could have given this commandment somewhere in the street, but He did not. Friendship with people of a different spirit was not part of God’s plan. Although He calls me to be friendly toward everyone, only those who love Christ and have fellowship with Him can possess love for one another. Even if your brother bears the name of Christ but does not possess His Spirit, he will not answer your love with love. He simply does not know how and will not do it. This is the distinction of loving one another: only the disciples of Jesus can possess it, and by this sincere agape everyone will know that Christians are followers of the Lord.
Love for one another involves our mutual communication, in which we open our hearts and allow the other person to enter the depths of our soul that are inaccessible to the rest of the world.
Within such communication, we find points of connection, discover sharp corners, define forbidden territories, and uncover immeasurable deposits of the soul’s treasures that had been buried beneath mountains of fears and stereotypes. Love knows how to discover everything beautiful within a friend and joyfully bring it into the open, surprising the friend with the unusual nature of its discoveries.
The friend with whom I have decided to love one another becomes for me an unexplored planet which I begin studying from every direction. The dedicated heart of another person is a beautiful platform for exchanging spiritual values, blessings, revelations, and experiences. We search for new treasures within one another and find them so that together we can rejoice in these wonderful discoveries. Our receivers of communication are tuned to the same frequency. We listen to and hear one another. We understand speech in the language of the heart. Even unfinished phrases are understood from half a word.
At some point in our friendship, we decide to speak about our love for one another. Our minds are not yet accustomed to such conversations, but we take this step, trying to understand what is happening within us and between us. In order to be honest with one another, we agree to share everything taking place within the heart, even what is bad, so that there will be no misunderstandings between us. Knowing that your friend is telling you the pure truth, you can see the whole picture of love and friendship as it truly is, without speculation or distortion.
Sincerity and openness in communication produce mutual trust, and it becomes easy to admit a friend into places no one else may enter. We also have an agreement not to share with other people confidential information about a friend that is available only to us. The only Person with Whom I can discuss my friend and reveal every secret of that person’s heart is Jesus. My other friends should know nothing from our private communication. It belongs only to my friend and me.
But our friendship also has open blessings that I gladly share with others. These include stories about the wonderful person the Lord has given me, how He taught me to love that person, and how many beautiful qualities of the soul I discovered within this friend who is dear to me.
As we tell one another about our love, we begin to know and understand from within how deep this love is, how it binds us together, what thoughts and feelings it produces, and from what Source it proceeds. We also share what the enemy of the soul tries to impose upon us and how dangerous it is to listen to his whisperings.
The breadth and depth of our knowledge of one another do not come all at once. They are revealed gradually, day by day, illuminating the beauty of our hearts more and more brightly. All this is so unfamiliar and unusual! At times, fear arises over whether everything is right within our love for one another. We immediately seek counsel from God in order to understand whether we are standing upon a dangerous path and ask Him to lead us in the way everlasting.
Communication with one another helps reveal many dangers while they are still in their infancy and enables us to gain victory before temptation arrives. Openness and trust help us share immediately with a friend the doubts that have entered the mind. Together, we can resolve all these matters very quickly in the best possible way. As a result of our love for one another, we begin to love one another out of a pure heart, knowing whom we love and why.
Love for one friend does not prevent me from loving another friend, or someone whom the Lord will yet give me. I use the experience gained in my relationship with my first friend when communicating with my other friends as well. We do not hide this from one another or become jealous, but rejoice that our spiritual family is growing and developing.
It is difficult to take the first steps when you do not know what is right or where to go. Communication with one another and with God sheds light upon our friendship, and we confidently do and try what will lead us to the complete victory of love within us. We are no longer afraid to love and give happiness, and we move forward.
Bible Verses for Reflection
1 John 1:7; John 13:34–35; Proverbs 10:22; 13:20; 17:17; 18:24; 21:10; 22:24; 27:9, 17; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 Corinthians 1:9; 15:33; Philippians 1:6–11; 2:1–2.