First love! What an awesome thing. For some of us, we never quite get over the first love of our lives. We may move on to other loves, but the first person we ever loved sort of stays with us through our lifetime. We remember that first time we saw that person, the first time we held hands, the first time they kissed us. Those firsts...they stay with us. Lately I have been looking at the verses in Revelation where the Lord is talking to the church of Ephesus.
Rev. 2:2-5a
I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.
You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.
Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.
Wow! I see myself in those verses far too often. The Lord says, "Hey, I know you are doing a lot of great things. You are working hard, you are standing up against evil, you have gone through tough things because you love Me, but...I have one thing I want you to change."
"You don't love Me the way you used to! And I want you to realize that and start doing what you use to do."
When we first fall in love we can't spend enough time with that person. We always want to talk with them. We love the sound of their voice. We write them love letters and we think about them all the time. But over time, that fades. We go through our day and occasionally they come to mind. We talk to them, but there is not the excitement that use to be there. We may write them a note here or there, but they are nothing like we use to write. What use to be amazing and new has now become normal and routine.
The Lord wants to be our First Love...the one that stays with us through our lifetime. He misses the way it use to be. Those days when we first got to know Him and we spent so much time in His word. When we just use to want to pray all the time and really listen to Him. When He was the first thing we thought of when we got up and the last thing we thought of when we went to bed. When He really was our first love...nothing else mattered more than Him. But somewhere along the way He became normal and routine.
Wow! I see myself in those verses far too often. The Lord says, "Hey, I know you are doing a lot of great things. You are working hard, you are standing up against evil, you have gone through tough things because you love Me, but...I have one thing I want you to change."
"You don't love Me the way you used to! And I want you to realize that and start doing what you use to do."
When we first fall in love we can't spend enough time with that person. We always want to talk with them. We love the sound of their voice. We write them love letters and we think about them all the time. But over time, that fades. We go through our day and occasionally they come to mind. We talk to them, but there is not the excitement that use to be there. We may write them a note here or there, but they are nothing like we use to write. What use to be amazing and new has now become normal and routine.
The Lord wants to be our First Love...the one that stays with us through our lifetime. He misses the way it use to be. Those days when we first got to know Him and we spent so much time in His word. When we just use to want to pray all the time and really listen to Him. When He was the first thing we thought of when we got up and the last thing we thought of when we went to bed. When He really was our first love...nothing else mattered more than Him. But somewhere along the way He became normal and routine.
Maybe we need to go back to doing what we did in the beginning...because WE are the ones who have fallen...HE is still head over heels in love with us and can't wait to hear our voice or spend time with us.
Let's be careful we don't get so busy doing all of the right things, but neglect the One we are doing them for.
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