Talk Tuesday-Remember Your First Love (Series): Pt. II

The title for the series, 'Remember Your First Love,' came from the depths of my own journey with the LORD. Last week, I shared about my road to salvation and what it looked like when I made that personal commitment to follow Jesus Christ. When I first 'got saved' there was such an unyielding passion to honour God in what I read, how I dressed, what I did, what I said, what I thought and how I spent my time. Do you remember the Apostle Paul? When he had his 'Damascus Road conversion' (read Acts chapter 9), he eventually declared, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me,” Galatians 2:20. Well...that basically sums it up for the rest of us who follow Christ. We no longer live for ourselves, but for the One who saved us.

So, what led to the Holy Spirit speaking to my heart from Revelation 2:1-7 those times that He did? Busyness, distraction and complacency. I mean, when I began to read Revelation 2, I started feeling...well...good about myself, “...you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary,” Revelation 2:3. Then I read verse 4, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” Huh? Wasn't I part of various ministries serving God's people inside and outside of the church? Didn't I read my Bible daily? Yet, the truth is that the embers of my passion had truly dimmed. I wasn't rushing home to spend quiet time with the Lord. I wasn't taking up my guitar as often as I used to so that I could sing songs of praise and worship to the One who gave me abundant life. I had become careless in what I read, did, said, thought and how I spent my time.

Have any of you ever fell in love? Do you remember what it was like at first? You couldn't stop thinking about the person, talking about them, wanting to spend time with them...until you either got married or broke up. If you got married, then chances are you started taking them, and the relationship, for granted. Or, then kids came along, life happened, and busyness just crowded into your one on one time. If you broke up...well...you know the rest! I mean, what keeps a marriage interesting, fresh and exciting? Spending time with that person, loving on them in meaningful ways and keeping those fires burning! It is the same with the LORD.

Do you know what the Bible calls the church? The Bride of Christ! After his conversion, the Apostle Paul, who began ministering to the various churches, said to the church in Corinth, "For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ," 2 Corinthians 11:2. Revelation 19:7-10 says, “'7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.' 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, 'Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!''And he said to me, 'These are the true sayings of God.'” 

So, let us ask ourselves this question. Do we still have the passion of our first love?