I observe other people and myself. Once again, angry people come and demand that I show them Jesus. I tell them that He is in Heaven, but they want to see Him in me. Once again I fall, get dirty, and go to be washed. The Teacher takes me by the hand and tells me about His love, how precious I am to Him, and how He is teaching me. I begin to notice that I am gradually becoming calmer, growing less irritable, and seeing good qualities in my neighbors. Angry people now seem less dangerous than unhappy. They desperately want to find a friend who will love them unselfishly. I, too, am looking for such a friend. When I find one among the upperclassmen, I walk with him until we reach our first disagreement. Then I go my own way, while my friend smiles and waits.
I fall, get up, and run to the Teacher in despair. He comforts me and leads me back to school. Again I see angry people with angry hearts around me, but they no longer trouble me. I understand that this is how they defend themselves, because I used to be the same way. I feel sorry for them because they do not attend my school. Instead, they linger nearby, strike the students, and shout for us to show them Jesus. But the upperclassmen teach us to pray for these unhappy people and to consider how we can help them meet the Teacher and show them the way of salvation. I see that many students closely resemble my Teacher in character and conduct. I am drawn ever more strongly to my Mentor, spend more time with Him, and feel His support in every situation.
I notice that many new students have come to our school, and they are constantly falling and getting dirty. I want to help them, but they look at me and see a hypocrite. I look at them, recognize myself, and realize that I love them. This love grows greater and deeper within me, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. What a miracle!
I look at the graduates of our school. Each of them bears the seal of our Teacher on the forehead, and they proclaim a special message to the world. I long to be among them, so I begin praying for greater love. It seems that nothing is happening, but I know that the Teacher has already planned something for me, and I ask Him for strength to stand firm. I see that my clothes no longer become soiled and that my legs have grown stronger, yet I understand that the ground beneath my feet is still very slippery, so I hold more tightly to my Mentor’s hand. I continue walking with Him, longing for greater love. I am no longer disappointed, because I know Him in Whom I have believed. Once again He brings me to school and surrounds me with angry people, whom I love even more.
Who am i in the school of love?
A time comes in the lives of God’s sons and daughters who receive love from Him when they can no longer keep this love inside and want to speak about it continually. Yet when love enters the human heart, it begins to cleanse it, and the impurity also comes to the surface. I speak about love while seeing so much evil within myself that I feel like a hypocrite. Not knowing what to do, many people simply fall silent and withdraw into themselves, thinking that something is wrong with them.
When you receive the gift of love, expect turmoil in your inner life. Expect the Lord to point out your sins and begin cleansing you. This is the most painful process in a believer’s life, and for many it becomes a serious problem. But it is not a problem for our Savior.
There are two roles: student and teacher. If I assume the role of a teacher, I risk becoming a self-confident hypocrite, denying the presence of sin in my life and excusing or concealing my faults. Even if this does not happen, the teacher’s role requires enormous responsibility and moral purity. It is no accident that Scripture says, “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all” (James 3:1–2, KJV). “But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ” (Matthew 23:8, KJV).
If I take the position of a student, it allows for the fact that I will fall, make mistakes, and receive poor grades, but all of this will happen as part of the learning process. During my education, my faults will be exposed and removed. The Lord expects me to be honest in my relationship with Him. When He shows me my sin, He expects me not to hide from Him but to confess my sin and desire to be cleansed from that evil. Then the Lord will cleanse me from sin and give me strength not to sin. The awareness of being clean brings happiness and extraordinary joy into one’s life, and that joy draws people to you.
Therefore, let each of you decide who you will be. Yet even if we choose to be students, at a certain point in our education the Lord calls us to teach others by sharing our experiences, discoveries, and revelations. There is a proper time for everything.
Learning to love
Imagine that I decide to learn to play the violin. I see how well other people play and decide that I, too, will learn this art. Since I have at least some ear for music, I conclude that this is quite enough to master the four-stringed violin. All I need is earnest prayer, faith in my abilities, and the very best of the expensive violins. And, of course, a little time.
I can already foresee the answer to my prayer of faith and your amazement at how quickly I have mastered the instrument. All that remains is to buy a violin and bow and begin astonishing everyone. I even think that music schools and conservatories were established for people who have little faith and are too lazy to learn on their own. My faith knows no bounds, and I invite all of you to my concert exactly one year from now! At that concert I will show you the result of my faith. Then I will take on students, inspire them to master the instrument, and one year later we will have an outstanding violin ensemble.
A wonderful plan, is it not? Does my idea seem foolish to you? You simply have no faith in me or in my abilities!
There is another path—a long and difficult one. I find a good teacher and ask him to teach me to play the violin. Under his guidance, I begin mastering this art step by step. I learn to read music, position my hands properly, and produce a good tone. The assignments become more difficult as I master the material. Observing my abilities, the teacher gives me new assignments and checks them carefully. He requires me to play the same piece many times to train my muscle memory. From time to time, he takes away my sheet music and asks me to play by ear or from memory. Along the way, he also shares professional secrets and finer points with me.
I do not even dare to dream of a concert, yet he places me before an audience and asks me to play what I know. With trembling knees, I play uncertainly before dozens of listeners, afraid of making a mistake. The teacher does not stop there. He continues refining my skill until I can play confidently and without fear. Although this exhausting process of instruction takes years of both his life and mine, the goal is achieved and the result is evident to everyone.
Which of these two schools appeals to you more? Which one would you like to attend? Intellectually, I understand that the second is better, yet I enroll in the first. Many years later, I end up completely disappointed and without faith. And I had prayed so fervently!
We can learn to love only in the school of Christ. It has its own laws and principles, assignments and examinations, all in accordance with the curriculum. A graduate of this school receives God’s seal of approval, is declared an overcomer, and inherits all the promised blessings!
Loving at the proper time
Learning to love follows the same principles as learning music. Prayer alone is not enough. I used to think, “It is so simple! I will pray now, and the Spirit of God will fill my heart with love. Then I will love everyone as the Lord does.” I understood that I lacked love and began to pray about it. God answered my prayers, but not as I had expected.
When a person comes to church, no one overwhelms him with a code of laws, rules, and requirements. He is simply welcomed and helped to understand that he has entered a family where he is needed. He makes friends, and all of this contributes to his spiritual growth. A newborn baby understands nothing, can do nothing, and knows nothing. The child must reach the proper age to sit independently, eat, speak, attend school, and start a family. There is a proper time for everything. God has arranged the spiritual life in the same way.
God wants us to learn to keep His commandments. John 13 records the commandment to love one another, and God wants us to obey it. Yet not everyone hears this command from God.
The apostle Paul received visions and instruction directly from Jesus. We still read his letters, seeking to comprehend the depths of God’s love. In 1 Corinthians 13, he evaluates all our knowledge and achievements: “If I do not have love, I am nothing, and all the gifts and talents I possess are of no benefit to me.”
Why is it so important to possess love? Why is it so important to love? When we love, we reveal God’s character, because God is love. We represent Christ to others. When we love, our message sounds as it should and transforms a person’s thinking.
God created all of us to love. He also placed within us the need to be loved. If this need is not met, we begin to suffer. The people around us have the same need, regardless of sex, nationality, or age. This need is clearly visible in childhood, when a child asks to be held and snuggles close to his parents. As adults, we no longer consider this need especially important. We value having a job, financial security, and the things we need. Yet our inner spiritual being thirsts for love. We need love just as much in old age. This is why God wants to teach us to love.
“Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek Me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you. A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:33–35, KJV). Notice carefully what Peter says. He does not ask, “Lord, teach us to love!” Instead, he asks, “Lord, whither goest Thou?” (verse 36, KJV). He did not hear the commandment or grasp what mattered most. Jesus understood this. Later, in John 15, He repeated the commandment because He wanted His disciples to hear it. Once again, there was no response.
In his First Epistle, often called the “epistle of love,” John shows the importance of revealing God’s love through human love. He had to write an entire epistle to give us the understanding we lack. I do not mean that we have no love and love no one. If that were true, we would not be in the church. But I can say with certainty that God desires to give us more love—love that is full and perfect. This love is as boundless as God Himself. When we begin consciously asking for it, He begins to answer, provided that we are willing to learn. Prayer alone is not enough, although prayer gives God permission to teach us. If we pray and then return to our daily concerns, we will not learn very much. I have discovered this through personal experience.
Besides Christ, there is another Teacher—the Holy Spirit, through Whom we have direct communion with Christ. The heavenly Teacher hears our prayer and gives us exactly what we ask for. If we ask Him to teach us to be patient with our neighbor, He will teach us not to become irritated or speak harshly. God respects our freedom, even though He sees the difference between what we desire and what we need. He honors our choice. If we limit our request to love for our family, He will not give us love for a neighbor or coworker.
But when I ask for the gift of everlasting love so that I can love everyone, God gladly and willingly gives it to me. He desires to give us His love in greater measure than we ask, because only when we possess love can we rightly represent God’s character to others and proclaim His message. Most remarkably, as God teaches us to love, He also gives us a correct understanding of love.
The first step toward love
When a doctor comes to a person dying of cancer, explains the cause of the disease, and says that the patient will die, he is telling the truth. But he leaves the patient without hope, and truth presented without love sounds like a sentence of condemnation.
People may perceive many biblical truths merely as facts. Christ will return whether or not we believe that He will. The judgment of those who have professed faith in Christ has already begun. There will be a millennium, a final judgment of the wicked, and eternity. All these events are certain and do not depend on our faith. Yet when we begin revealing God’s grace to people, they need personal contact with that grace.
People do not know God; they see only us and hear only what we tell them. If we speak to them about Christ’s love but they do not see our love for them, will such a presentation of the Gospel succeed? Never! People listen with their hearts.
We now face an excess of information, and each year it becomes more difficult to reach people’s minds. Yet from the prophetic Word we know that in the last days people will desire to know the truth. We also know that the truth for the last days is called the Three Angels’ Messages. Will God use people who have no love for others to proclaim this truth? Without love in the heart of the person proclaiming them, the Three Angels’ Messages sound like a sentence without mercy or hope. Only genuine love can show me how to present this message properly.
If a person needs peace of mind, the Three Angels’ Messages by themselves will not calm him. But when, through you and me, he encounters God’s love and tenderness and His amazing grace, he finds peace because he meets a loving God in you and me.
When I pray for love, God answers. Every morning I cry out, “Lord, teach me to love. Reveal to me what I do not yet know!” But I want to warn you: love cannot be revealed through an impure heart. God will not reveal His love to others through a corrupt heart. Therefore, He must cleanse that heart from sin.
I prayed, “Lord, teach me to love the people I work with. They are all so angry; they do not know You and do not want to know You. Yet You want me to love them. There is pride, condemnation, and a competitive spirit within me, but no love. Teach me to love!” I pray this, and God begins to show me who I am. He begins revealing my sins to me. This is the most unpleasant part of learning to love. I desire God’s love and pray for it, but He shows me how impure I am. All of us will go through this, whether we want to or not. Even someone raised in the church is not exempt from this cleansing. God will reveal to every one of us just how sinful we are.
I will not describe the truths God revealed to me about myself. At first, I was ashamed to ask for love while being so impure. But remembering that God’s grace is intended for sinners, and recognizing that I was a sinner, I began to rely on God’s mercy. I saw that mercy at work within me. I come to the Savior, and He accepts me. Today, when I speak to people, I ask God to close their eyes to my faults and reveal His perfection.
Sometimes we feel like complete strangers among our own brothers and sisters. In such a situation, God uses people’s shortcomings to show us how desperately we need Him. We will never truly value Christ until we understand our dependence on Him.
From a human perspective, some situations in life seem hopeless. The Holy Spirit can resolve any problem very quickly. The first thing He does is remove it from our hearts. It may remain in our lives, but if God has taken its resolution into His hands, it will be resolved.
Let me give an example. I had a small debt that I could not repay, and it weighed heavily on me. I prayed for the problem to be resolved, but the debt remained. Then I began to pray differently: “Lord, I give this problem to You.” It left my heart in fulfillment of the promise, “Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7, KJV). I believed these words were effective. The problem left my heart but remained in my life. The debt was still there, yet I understood that God would provide a way for me to repay it. And that is what happened. Most importantly, I found peace because I understood that it was no longer my problem but God’s. Later, He showed me what changes I needed to make in my life so that I would not fall into debt and could live within my means.
Jesus taught us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and He promised that everything necessary for life would be added to us.
Business has its own laws, and as you become acquainted with them, you see how they operate in your life. But there are also unforeseen events that can take everything from you except your debts. Yet even in the world of money, love is the most important unit of value. When everything collapses—when every fund, currency, and loan has lost its value—love, like Noah’s ark, will rise majestically above this perishing world, and nothing will harm it. If I learn God’s love, that knowledge will remain within me forever.
The teacher’s responsibility
When we enroll in the school of Christ, God assumes responsibility for teaching us properly. Every morning I ask Him to take my life into His hands and teach me to love everyone with whom I live, work, or come in contact. And He teaches me. During this time, my attitude toward people has changed radically. I cannot remember being offended by anyone in recent years. This used to be a serious flaw in my character. If I had a conflict with someone or heard a harsh word directed at me, I could easily take offense and withdraw. This happened fairly often in my family. But when I began asking for love, I noticed that the Lord removed this sin from me—a sin that is an expression of pride. As we know, love is not proud. In His school, God does not merely give me new knowledge. He teaches me to examine and change my life.
Let me give an example. I am a driver, and I have a car that I use for business and commuting to work. In the past, I often exceeded the speed limit without considering the consequences. When I received tickets, I was angry with those who sent them. I also ignored traffic signs as though they did not exist. At some point, I understood that this was wrong and began to pray, “Lord, teach me to obey the traffic laws.” Then, whenever I violated them, I blamed God: “Lord, why do I pray for You to teach me to obey these rules, yet I continue to break them?” I shifted my guilt onto God, treating Him as though He were a poor Teacher. I asked Him to change my heart, yet I did nothing myself.
Then I began asking Him to establish me in obedience to the traffic laws I already knew well. I realized that when I got into the car, watched every sign carefully, and firmly resolved to obey its directions, I drove according to the law. A police car behind me sharpened my attention and provided the best possible motivation to obey every rule. The moment my mind wandered to something else, I stopped noticing signs and could easily exceed the speed limit. When I realized that I had broken the rules again, I felt ashamed, because I understood that those laws were written in the blood of innocent people who died because of inattentive drivers. Today I am so accustomed to obeying traffic laws that I do it automatically.
Not long ago, I let a friend drive my car and moved to the passenger seat. Throughout the journey, I kept telling him that he was speeding, that he needed to slow down, and that he was breaking the law. As the owner of the car, I felt responsible for the violation. To avoid irritating my friend with constant reminders, I had to take the wheel again.
Something similar happens in the school of love. When we recognize ourselves as God’s students, we begin to control our actions. When we realize that God is always near and that every word, action, and thought is carefully recorded, we become doers of the law. We become so accustomed to this way of life that we can no longer act otherwise. God writes His law in our hearts. When we unintentionally lose control of a situation, God shows us where we stumbled. We repent and go to the One Who accepts, cleanses, and forgives us. Even when there are no signs along our path, the habit of living by the law of love takes effect within us. God takes great pleasure in working with students who seek His counsel in everything.