Love is the greatest command given to us. It’s so elusive and hazy yet intuitive and inescapable. Language finds its limit in trying to capture this epitome of human existence. The cliches and central themes of every story and human experience point to this magnificence.

What’s interesting about love is that it’s a universal human experience yet also the center of Christian belief. We model our lives and often devote our entire purpose to love—romantic, service, and so forth—and it all leads back to God’s love of us.

Exercising love unto others is divine. It models our Lord and orients us into our true selves. No matter how imperfect we are, we can still for a moment become little Christs by exercising love. It is an active process. We serve and use our actions to show love.

Christian love is supposed to be the purest form. Christians have insider knowledge of divine love, which is the ideal form of love. I can’t possibly begin to explain this subject. I’m not sure anybody can. There is a vast theological literature on divine love, and I suspect it coincides with secular literature on the philosophy of love. All truth is God’s truth.

People are not islands. Relationships are necessary for a good life. As much as it’s easy to be passive about it and let relationships come to you–especially in his modern life where you might not be able to get away from people or you desire isolation. What’s crucial is to invest in your relationships. Investments must be careful, however, because you have limited time and resources in your life. But don’t be overly picky and shield yourself from people you aren’t comfortable interacting with. Investing comes with some level of risk, and some more risks can net you more rewards. Humans depend on each other; we are social animals. All the more, as Christians, we must establish and build relationships. A useful analogy, one which I hope won’t be taken too far into a harmful context, is an investment. We can invest in relationships through our interactions, love, and care. Relationships are a great joy for us, but our duty as Christians goes beyond our own selfish fulfillment. We have to create deep, meaningful relationships to show the love of God. Christians are not supposed to be an island all the time. We must interact with the world and this means connecting with people. Jesus did it. We must do it.

Christianity identifies the importance of relationships. Relationships with strangers are necessary for demonstrating Christianity and evangelizing, but they can often be more impactful with those you know. When you are intimate with somebody, you gain their trust and your testimony through your actions is a way of demonstrating what it means to be a Christian. Shine like a light. Not alone, under a bed, covered, or isolated; rather, shine for people.

It’s easy not to interact with people when you’re naturally a bit antisocial or anxious. The inertia of staying alone is easy. But that’s not our duty; this is also not good for us. It’s also wise to choose which relationships to invest in. Sometimes it’ll be clear to us through the hand of the Lord. We can be pushed in directions towards people that we can help and who can help us; the synergy of growth and development. We can’t be shy about this opportunity.

We cannot love without relationships. Our greatest duty is to love, but how can we love without interacting with the world. It’s an act of faith to be vulnerable. For me, as a man, raised in an environment of toxic masculinity and emotion suppressing, my emotional dimension was largely stifled. I had to really focus on this weakness and my lack of emotional intelligence because it really started to affect my relationships with others. I had so many barriers to overcome insofar as trying to not only express my feelings but understand my feelings. For me, communicating my feelings and understanding them went hand-in-hand. It involved a step of earnestly speaking without pretense, ulterior motive, or rhetoric. I had to unlearn my defense mechanism of avoiding these tough discussions. I had to bare myself to be hurt. I had to trust that I wouldn’t be hurt, or, at the least, that I could recover from it. This process wasn’t triggered by intimates, although they may have been a catalyst for it. Rather, my step towards vulnerability stemmed from a faith in God. My prayers had to be honest. I could trust God that I could be vulnerable. To speak the truth.

It can be tough to do so many things as a Christian. Trying to be social when we naturally aren’t or doing the hard work of reaching out and growing a relationship is uncomfortable. Our comfort is our sacrifice to God. What we value most–safety, time, comfort–is a worthy sacrifice. Compared to the more abstract sacrifices of efforts it should be easy to sacrifice in other areas, like charity or generosity. We have to note that it’s part of our duty to give all of our idols. Money is an obvious one. Time is an obvious one. Less obvious is a combination: our efforts, sacrificing financial gain or personal leisure time, to devote to others. We have to sacrifice the best lamb.

We see that our purpose is to have a relationship with God, and we cannot be alone or it’d be hell. In the world, we seek to mimic the perfect relationship with imperfect people. We cannot avoid people and I believe we are commanded to dive deep into relations with people. It’s how we show God’s love. It’s how we see the presence of fellowship. We can see this through God and model our relationships with our relation with God. In the best case, in this world, we can have a small glimpse of heaven through our relationships. We create communities. We have fellowship.