Epigraph
If I know all the prophecies, know how to interpret them, and see in the news that the end of this world is drawing near, but do not have love, what good is this knowledge to me?
If I have built a health center, opened a health-food store or a school, and through these efforts bring many people to Jesus, but do not have love, what do I gain from it?
If I have many friends and give generously to good causes, but do not have love, what is the point of it all?
Love is calm, strong, and powerful.
Love knows how to wait, endure, and believe; love forgives everything.
Love knows how to live both among people and in solitude.
Love is observant. It sees everything, yet notices only the virtues in others.
Love loves at all times.
Love is the first to seek a way to another person’s heart, and once it finds that way, it settles there forever.
Love has no former friends, but it has many future ones.
There is no effective defense against love; it overcomes everything. Yet it gently offers itself, forcing itself on no one, and waits without end. Love respects a person’s freedom; it can grow only where it is welcomed.
From the author
This book was written in response to the earnest requests of people with whom I shared my thoughts and observations about God’s love. In it, I describe only what I have personally experienced and what I have learned through trial and error and through revelation from above. I sincerely hope that becoming acquainted with my experience of learning about love will make your journey easier and faster. When we know what lies ahead, we naturally prepare for it, and when a trial comes, we understand how to respond.
This book is a kind of training course that changes the way we think and develops skills that all of us will soon need. Even if you do not yet fully understand the nature of this field of study and have little interest in learning about it, God will give you the necessary desire and understanding. The decisions we make today in response to the light God has given us will determine what we will be in the future—wheat or tares.
As a businessman, I study the laws of business, how it is structured, and the principles by which it operates. In this world, a person can make a great deal of money very quickly and yet lose what no amount of money can buy. Like you, I face a choice every day, and I choose love. It is a narrow and thorny path, yet it is pleasant and easy to walk because it was prepared by the One Who gave His life so that I might live. And I choose life. I follow in His footsteps and understand what awaits me, yet I rejoice that He is with me and in me, and I am in Him.
The most precious and beautiful thing in this world—worth giving up many worldly advantages for—is the gift of God’s love, with which God gives us Himself. It is worth more than all the riches of the world. It gives us complete mastery over self and true victory in every battle. I believe that my words and thoughts will help many of you take a step toward this love and toward the One from Whom it comes.
I am sharing with you insights drawn from my personal experience, but they will help you only if they become part of your own experience. If you cooperate with the transformation God has begun in you, one day God will surely bring it to completion and place His seal upon you.