Yahshua, our Messiah, stated emphatically that the entire Torah is founded upon two basic commandments: love Yahweh with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself (Mt. 22:37-39, Mark 12:30-33). Let’s talk about the latter. It all comes down to relationship.
Love Must Be Expressed
Love isn’t really love if it isn’t expressed. We know Yahweh so loved that He gave (John 3:16). We also know that we show our love for Him by keeping His commandments (1 Jo. 2:3-5, 5:3). Similarly, we love our neighbor as ourselves by giving of ourselves. It’s not a one-time act but a continual process; it means building relationships with each other.
Strong relationships don’t just “happen”. They require work, and that’s something that most people are NOT taught growing up. That is one of the key reasons why so many marriages end in divorce. Too many people enter into marriage with the notion that it will just sustain itself, that it won’t require any real effort on the part of either husband or wife. This misconception, in turn, is born out of a lack of understanding of covenant relationship.
Yahweh has called us into covenant with Him through His Son, Yahshua, but He has also called us into covenant with each other. The Scriptures say that we are to be joined to one another, knit together into one Body (Eph. 4:16). That’s not some weak, casual way of relating. We are not – or should not be – casual strangers who just see each other once a week on Sabbath, then go our separate ways the rest of the week. Nor are we members of some organization – rather, we are interconnected parts of a living Organism, an organic Body, joined at the heart to each other.
Relationship through Fellowship
Fellowship leads to relationship. In fact, without fellowship there IS no relationship. That is true of our relationship with Yahweh and Yahshua; it is also true of our relationships with each other. We must actively SEEK opportunities for fellowship with each other. With everyone’s lives as busy as they are, true, strong covenant relationships will happen in no other way. Make no mistake – this will require effort, commitment, and perseverance.
I once heard an evangelist talking about traveling to a remote area of Africa to preach. He said that heavy rains were pouring down and that, after reaching a certain point, he and his host had to leave their four-wheel drive vehicle and walk the rest of the way on foot due to the rough terrain. He was certain that they would get to the appointed spot and find no one there. But he was astounded to discover a crowd numbering in the thousands patiently awaiting him; they’d been there, standing in the open air, rain, and mud, for HOURS.
To me, that puts things in perspective: for those of us blessed to have other like-minded believers in relatively close proximity, we have no excuse for NOT fellowshipping one with another.
Consider this quote from leadership development coach and author Art Turock: “There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permits. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.”
Time to Cultivate
Our relationships with one another must be cultivated, and they must be cultivated deliberately. One of the crucial elements of relationship-building is the one that few seem able to provide: time. Pastor Jimmy Evans stated it this way: “Time is the commodity of relationships.” That’s absolutely true. If we are unwilling to invest or sow time into our relationships, we shouldn’t expect a healthy harvest in that field.
The Scriptures tell us that love is the bond of perfection (Col. 3:14) – it is the super-glue that holds the Body together. Yahshua said that others would know us by our love for one another (John 13:34-35). In his epistle to the Romans, Paul (Sha’ul) echoed this sentiment when he said that we are to be “kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another” (Rom. 12:10). We honor one another by putting each other’s needs ahead of our own. That is sacrificial love.
Don’t Require Perfection of Others
None of us is perfect yet. That being the case, we’ve got to learn to receive others where they’re at. There is a Hasidic proverb that states “One who looks for a friend without faults will have none.”
Yahshua didn’t require perfection when He called His disciples. Yes, He expected them to grow in knowledge and obedience as they matured in their relationship with Him, but even after building covenant relationships with many of them over the course of three and a half years, one of them still betrayed Him and the others all abandoned Him. Peter, one of the great apostles of the 1st century Body of believers, denied Yahshua three times on the night He was betrayed. Yet our Messiah still found the love in His heart to forgive him – and restore him. Should we do any less in our relationships with one another?
We need to remind ourselves on a daily basis of just how gracious and merciful our heavenly Father is. And we must remind ourselves that He is calling us to exhibit His character in our relationships with one another. Each of us falls short on a daily basis in our relationship with Him; yet when we repent and determine to do better, He – in His incredible loving-kindness – wipes the slate clean and welcomes us back with open arms. Do we do the same with our brother or sister, those who we feel have wronged us?
Perfected Love
The true test of a relationship is how one responds in the face of adversity. 
Proverbs 17:17 says “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” A true friend is one who “sticks closer than a brother” (Pro. 18:24) – even in the face of adversity.
“Beloved, if Yahweh so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man has seen Elohim at any time. If we love one another, Elohim dwells in us, and His love is perfected in us.” (1 Jo. 4:11-12)
Let us strive for that perfect love – let us be joined at the heart one to another. Let’s pursue real and living relationships.