"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies."~Aristotle
First Love
"I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name's sake and have not become weary..."
~ Revelation 2:2-3 (NKJV)
Those Ephesians had quite the résumé. What church—what individual—would not love to hear the above commendation from the Lord Himself?
"Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love."
~ Revelation 2:2-4 (NKJV)
Here are words I've previously used to describe first love:
First love is consuming. It takes over all thought, feeling, word, action.
First love is driven. It will go around or through and beyond any obstacle.
First love is empowering. There is nothing it will not do for its object.
First love is not extinguished by time, but [cooled] by the indifference of familiarity and the distraction of intrusion.
I do not think we are as likely to lose first love as we are to be fickle and transfer it to another object easily identified by certain questions.
If adversity strikes, where does my concern immediately turn?
If I'm feeling down, where do I first turn for solace?
If I were to lose everything, what would be the one thing I ask God to spare?
Life holds many things to rightly value—and every one of them holds potential to steal first love from the Lord, including Christian service.
The Lord doesn't ask us to build up a spiritual résumé of what we do for Him. He asks us for relationship, then invites us to do with Him.
Lord Jesus, help us to remember first love, and to pour it out lavishly upon You.
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Copyright 2010, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Image from healthewoman.org
Such great If questions. Will be thinking and praying on those today.
ReplyDelete~ Wendy
It struck me that we need to feed our first love.
ReplyDeleteSo true, so true. I so desperately need Him to help me keep my focus straight daily. Enjoyed ~ blessings.
ReplyDeleteWendy ~
ReplyDeleteI think it's exceptionally easy to transfer first love for the Lord to service for Him. How often does my love for Him overflow into expressing it, and then suddenly become more attached to the expression of love than to Him? How often do His best gifts to me become a source of idolatry and distraction? I ask myself questions constantly, trying to identify my idols.
Snady ~
ReplyDeleteWe need to feed our first love. We know this, don't we? Yet I find myself continually resting on the relationship I built yesterday, and too often neglecting it today. I'm grateful that the Lord does not withdraw, but is always ready and waiting to engage those who are His.
Patty ~
ReplyDeleteOh yes! Daily, hourly, moment to moment ...
And thanks. Blessings backatcha! :D
We don't forget to nourish or rest our bodies for too long. If we did, they'd shrivel up. His table is spread with such good food. Why I neglect to go eat sometimes is beyond me. You'd think I'd have learned by now.
ReplyDeleteI love Sandra's comment. So true. Spiritual starvation is something I need to try and rectify. I need to nourish myself with the word and soak the Holy Spirit in during prayer.
ReplyDeleteConsume me Lord with that first love, over and over and over.
ReplyDeletechewing on this for a couple of days now. the questions were a bit challenging. for the last one, the realization came slower than it should have. i never want to be separated from God.
ReplyDeleteSnady ~ The wonderful thing is, the Lord feeds that first love too, if we're just paying attention. I had an intense God moment on Wednesday I'll share in tomorrow's post.
ReplyDeleteT ~ I think that first love is mostly about focus. God is all over. We miss the God moments simply because we're not looking for Him.
ReplyDeleteDenise ~
ReplyDeleteI echo your prayer. Yes, Lord Jesus! Pull us back into it, over and over.
Bud ~
ReplyDeleteI admire you for not letting those thoughts go, for hanging on to them and chewing on them and seeking out what the Lord wants you to have.
I pray that He blesses you and leads you through every detail. :D