Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Rev 2:1-4
What comes to mind when you think of your first love? Can you remember how your heart skipped a beat when they called or when you saw them; how you thought about that person every moment of the day or how you couldn’t imagine being away from them for any period of time? When this topic dropped in my spirit, I had to smile because immediately it took me back on the path to my first love, Bubby, and the anticipation of our first meeting the next morning, after talking to him for awhile from a second story window in the darkness of a Midwestern night. This eventually led to wonderful, memorable moments in time. Even though our lives and location changed, everything that we had experienced together; our walks, our outings, our talks, our dreams, and our hearts desires; the memories of love still remain. You may leave them but you never forget your first love.
This chapter begins with John addressing a letter to the church in Ephesus regarding this very subject because they had fallen apart despite the efforts to hang on to the truth by some of the congregation. He tells them even though the Lord knows who they are and He knows their works, He was not pleased with them because they had left that which they first loved, that pure, unadulterated, and untainted love for Him. He lets them know that God knows their hearts, their attitudes, their thoughts, their desires, their rising and their downsitting; He knows them even better than they know themselves. He knows how much they have suffered persecution and what they have had to endure for His name sake; He knew they had not fainted or become weary as they labored and He had not forgotten them (Heb 6:10). He knew of the opposition they faced and came up against them constantly, not only individually, but as a church. Because of this, some had allowed themselves to become loveless and I’m sure just going through the motion; which is a very bad place to be, physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. All of this had caused them to lose their fervor, become neglectful in their passion, desire, and their devotion to what they had been taught and their commitment to excellence in order to please the Lord and He was bringing this to their attention. He also warns them and then advised they repent and come back.
Well, this writing is speaking to us as well. He knows us too, all to well; what we do on an individual basis, as well as collectively as the church, and as members of this one body. He recognizes and understands the doctrines of the modern day church, which by comparison is no different from the early church: the laws and the by laws; the problems, the events, the turmoil, the scandals, the strife, the anger, the mistrust, the bad attitudes, honestly I could go on, however, all of these things cause dissension and slowly eat away at the fabric of the church and eventually our love (Matt 24:12). We get so caught up in the busyness of the church work and the labor of non-love, that we sometimes, if not most of the times, forget the purpose of why we fell in love with the Lord; this is the reason for our passion and enthusiasm. Love will make you desire to be more devoted, more dedicated and committed to ministry and the purpose of God.
If we stop and think for a moment, we can still remember the initial love we felt when we fell in love with the Lord. Well, I still I remember when I fell in love with Jesus down to the very day and hour. After that, I felt as if nothing could separate me from His love or my journey in Him because it was and is my fervent desire to know and love Him and be obedient to His Word. If you love someone, you will go gung-ho for them. However, I do know and understand all to well the words in which John writes to the church. If I didn’t love the Lord today, the church, the people and its influences would have run me away and my love for the church would have waxed cold and you would not be reading this from me, most assuredly.
So many that I’ve known over the years, lost their fervor, their passion and their desire for the church and their love have gone astray because they became weary and worn and couldn’t hold on. We have to be careful how we entreat one another, how we love one another in Jesus' name. The Word says, With lovingkindness have I drawn thee. It’s the love that draws. When you begin to tell others about your love and you tell them of how beautiful and wonderful that love is to you, they will ask, and they will want to know how to get this love and keep this love.
Love of the Lord is the most genuine, authentic, real kind of love we can show, naturally and especially spiritually because this shows that we can give our heart totally, completely and unconditionally without question to God and consequently unto others. We don’t ever want to become so busy, where it becomes drudgery to walk on this journey, or lose sight or lose focus on what’s important while we work. Our relationship with the Lord, as in any natural relationship takes work, some nurturing, some cultivating, and some loving. He is telling us today, that we may have left Him or gone astray for a bit, but you never forget your first love. Let's remember why we fell in love with Him, and get back to our first love.
Until the morning, be blessed,
Cynde
What comes to mind when you think of your first love? Can you remember how your heart skipped a beat when they called or when you saw them; how you thought about that person every moment of the day or how you couldn’t imagine being away from them for any period of time? When this topic dropped in my spirit, I had to smile because immediately it took me back on the path to my first love, Bubby, and the anticipation of our first meeting the next morning, after talking to him for awhile from a second story window in the darkness of a Midwestern night. This eventually led to wonderful, memorable moments in time. Even though our lives and location changed, everything that we had experienced together; our walks, our outings, our talks, our dreams, and our hearts desires; the memories of love still remain. You may leave them but you never forget your first love.
This chapter begins with John addressing a letter to the church in Ephesus regarding this very subject because they had fallen apart despite the efforts to hang on to the truth by some of the congregation. He tells them even though the Lord knows who they are and He knows their works, He was not pleased with them because they had left that which they first loved, that pure, unadulterated, and untainted love for Him. He lets them know that God knows their hearts, their attitudes, their thoughts, their desires, their rising and their downsitting; He knows them even better than they know themselves. He knows how much they have suffered persecution and what they have had to endure for His name sake; He knew they had not fainted or become weary as they labored and He had not forgotten them (Heb 6:10). He knew of the opposition they faced and came up against them constantly, not only individually, but as a church. Because of this, some had allowed themselves to become loveless and I’m sure just going through the motion; which is a very bad place to be, physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. All of this had caused them to lose their fervor, become neglectful in their passion, desire, and their devotion to what they had been taught and their commitment to excellence in order to please the Lord and He was bringing this to their attention. He also warns them and then advised they repent and come back.
Well, this writing is speaking to us as well. He knows us too, all to well; what we do on an individual basis, as well as collectively as the church, and as members of this one body. He recognizes and understands the doctrines of the modern day church, which by comparison is no different from the early church: the laws and the by laws; the problems, the events, the turmoil, the scandals, the strife, the anger, the mistrust, the bad attitudes, honestly I could go on, however, all of these things cause dissension and slowly eat away at the fabric of the church and eventually our love (Matt 24:12). We get so caught up in the busyness of the church work and the labor of non-love, that we sometimes, if not most of the times, forget the purpose of why we fell in love with the Lord; this is the reason for our passion and enthusiasm. Love will make you desire to be more devoted, more dedicated and committed to ministry and the purpose of God.
If we stop and think for a moment, we can still remember the initial love we felt when we fell in love with the Lord. Well, I still I remember when I fell in love with Jesus down to the very day and hour. After that, I felt as if nothing could separate me from His love or my journey in Him because it was and is my fervent desire to know and love Him and be obedient to His Word. If you love someone, you will go gung-ho for them. However, I do know and understand all to well the words in which John writes to the church. If I didn’t love the Lord today, the church, the people and its influences would have run me away and my love for the church would have waxed cold and you would not be reading this from me, most assuredly.
So many that I’ve known over the years, lost their fervor, their passion and their desire for the church and their love have gone astray because they became weary and worn and couldn’t hold on. We have to be careful how we entreat one another, how we love one another in Jesus' name. The Word says, With lovingkindness have I drawn thee. It’s the love that draws. When you begin to tell others about your love and you tell them of how beautiful and wonderful that love is to you, they will ask, and they will want to know how to get this love and keep this love.
Love of the Lord is the most genuine, authentic, real kind of love we can show, naturally and especially spiritually because this shows that we can give our heart totally, completely and unconditionally without question to God and consequently unto others. We don’t ever want to become so busy, where it becomes drudgery to walk on this journey, or lose sight or lose focus on what’s important while we work. Our relationship with the Lord, as in any natural relationship takes work, some nurturing, some cultivating, and some loving. He is telling us today, that we may have left Him or gone astray for a bit, but you never forget your first love. Let's remember why we fell in love with Him, and get back to our first love.
Until the morning, be blessed,
Cynde
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