"We are not held back by the love we didn't receive in the past,but by the love we're not extending in the present."
~ Marianne Williamson
First Love
"I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil... and you have persevered ... Nevertheless I have this against you,
that you have left your first love."
~ Revelation 2:2-4 (NKJV)
Love never fails.
~ 1 Corinthians 13:8 (NKJV)
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 by the indifference of familiarity and the distraction of intrusion. Jesus gave two instructions to those He admonished for loss of first love:
remember and repent.
Many churches celebrate the Lord's Table today. It is a time to examine how we might repent, and remember our Lord's love. It is a time to celebrate the commUnion we share with one another. It is a time to celebrate all that is to come.
Especially as we begin a new year, the Lord's Table is an opportunity to renew first love.
Lord Jesus, Your love for us has stopped at nothing on our behalf. You've given us Yourself, Your Spirit, Your Father. You desire only our fully-surrendered love. Please help us repent of all distraction. Please return our hearts to the highest place our love for You has ever been, and push it higher.
Contrasting points-of-view, questions and feedback are invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2010, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Photo from flickr.com
Push it higher indeed! I look forward to the blessings He has in store for us in this new year. Bless you!
ReplyDeleteWhat a blessing you are to me.
ReplyDeleteHave a blessed, worship-full Sunday, dearest Anne!
ReplyDeleteWe ended the year with the Lord's supper last week; starting the year that way is better. Or perhaps both.
ReplyDeleteSuch a needed reminder to keep us from straying or bring us back when we have ~ remember & repent.
ReplyDeleteUh, how often I cry to God: search me, Lord, and help me to keep my first love for you.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful thoughts! "Push it higher." Absolutely!!
ReplyDeleteT. Anne, always higher. Being in love can't be overdone when it's Jesus!
ReplyDeleteRenee, you likewise bless me, and I thank Him for it. Our Lord is the source of all blessing!
Gwen, I'm so sorry your rest is over. But I am looking forward to hearing of your delight in your students again. Be blessed in this last day off.
Glynn, I don't think we can celebrate the Lord's Table too often. Can we too often remember what He has done? Can we too often examine ourselves with His Spirit? Can we too often express love? Frequency is one of the things Roman Catholicism gets right.
Patty, how I wish I did not understand the hymnist's words: "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it ..." We are too easily distracted.
Natasa, keep crying out to Him. He surely longs to grant your prayer even more than you long for Him.
Russell ... :D
Heather, I cannot help but think that Jesus expressed a lover's passion when He noted that though the Ephesus church did all else, they had lost their first love. Perhaps when we push our love high enough, He'll no longer be able to stay away!