Your First Love

Jesus said to the Church of Ephesus, the loveless Church: "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. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place - unless you repent" (Rev. 2:2 - 5, NKJV, emphasis added).

Here are some statements of truth:

1. Most Bible teachers believe the Church today has many areas of resemblance to the Church in Ephesus.

2. The phrase, "your first love" can mean three things -First, your love for the Lord Jesus; second, your love for fellow believers; and third, your love for the whole of mankind. I believe that this passage refers to all three.

3. Although we cannot separate loving God from genuinely loving His people, Jesus clearly articulated what our highest concern should be - to love God supremely.

4. Our Lord Jesus was asked by Jewish scribe, "Which is the first commandment of all?" Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment" (Mark 12:28 - 30).

5. The phrase, "Repent and do the first work" means, "Repent and do the work that was done when the Church was first established." In other words, manifest the zeal and love which were formerly evinced in opposing error, and in doing good. This is the true counsel to be given to those who have backslidden, and have "left their first love," now.

6. The Lord would come as a Judge, at not distant period, to inflect punishment in removing the lampstand (or candle-stick) out of its place.

7. Unless we repent the Lord would remove the light of the Church. In effect, when the light is removed, the Church would cease to exist. In other words, the church would be wholly extinct.

Your personal walk with the Lord today

The Bible clearly shows us that our ultimate and loyalty belong to God. Loving people is indeed critical to our Christian lives, but it can never be a substitute for making Him our first love. No one should be more important to us than the Lord.

Jesus Himself said it this way: "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me" (Matt. 10:37).

Our Lord could not have spoken in more graphic terms to describe the importance of our relationship with Him. He assumes we do love the members of our family, but He requires us to love Him even more.

The beautiful thing is that, the more we love Jesus, the more love we will have to give. He is the author of love (1 John 4:8) and shares it freely with us so that we might pass it on to those who cross our path. If, however, something short-circuits our relationship with the Lord, our capacity to love other people is diminished, and we fail to treat them as He intended.

This is evidently what happened to the Church in Ephesus and to our Church today as well. They were diligent in doing good deeds and enduring in their Christian faith, yet God was not satisfied. Their original love was gone. Just being busy didn't impress Him. He wanted their hearts, and they presented Him with their lips and labor. He asked for their thoughts and mind, they gave Him banners and vestments and candles!

Has your life become a set of routines? Have you become overwhelmed with Christian activities - prayer meeting one evening, Cell-group meeting on another. Bible study on another, plus a worship service on Saturday evening or Sunday morning, and a few committee meetings squeezed in here and there? What about your privte devotional life? Are you experiencing quality time with God in worship, prayer and Bible study?


Although our spiritual walk may have gotten off a good start, God is concerned about how we are doing today. We may be involved in essentially the activities as we were when we were born-again by the Spirit of God, yet find that they have lost their joy and meaning for us. Never stopping to question ourselves, we simply keep on working, clinging to the memory of how fruitful our works once were. Or, we may even begin to grow apathetic and uninterested in spiritual things, gradually pulling away from God and any meaningful Church involvement. Anger, exhaustion, and exasperation then start to show up in our attitudes. The desire to draw close to God diminishes. Our first love begins to fade.


Even though there are many people who are struggling just to maintain the love for Jesus they once had, God's perspective is that we should grow in love for Him daily. If we are focusing all our efforts on simply hanging on, we are bound to make little progress. Like the Church in Ephesus, we will present to the Lord a second-class devotion, which satisfies neither Him nor ourselves.


Had your personal walk with the Lord been on the decline? Are you merely going through the motions of worship and prayer, with no genuine satisfaction in you heart? Does God seem remote from your life, a distant voice that no longer seems to apply to you? do you think He has stopped speaking to you, leading you onward, and caring about your needs? Do your prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling?


Let us take a look at some of the reasons why so many Christians lose their former enthusiasm and become spiritually stale. Let us also consider God's solutions for each one of these reasons. Our Lord is in the business of renewal. He can reach out and touch the burned-out Christian, filling him all over again with fresh, exciting revelation. He can restore the old zeal and recreate the former vision. He can explode in our hearts with a powerful, sustaining love. One of the most wonderful things about God is that He wants to. He wants to make our love for Him new again.


Our conversion (born-again) experience


How can we be sure that our conversion experience is more than just mental assent to certain Gospel truths? Here are some statements of truth for your guidance:


1. A genuine conversion involves turning to God with our whole heart and allowing His Spirit to change us.


In 2 Corinthians 3:14 - 18, Paul was contrasting the Old Covenant of the Law with the New Covenant initiated by Christ. He concluded that whereas the hearts and minds of the unbelieving world were hardened to the message of Jesus, those who came to Him would experience a significant transformation.


2. A genuine conversion occurs when the reality of the living Christ is birthed within us.


A genuine convert is sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit speaks to him through the Word, prayer, other Christians, and circumstances.


3. A genuine conversion has enduring value


We can see in the life of Paul that a victorious Christian walk requires more than just one encounter with Jesus. We must have an ongoing relationship with Him! The only reason Paul could endure such intense suffering for the sake of the Gospel was that he kept his eyes on Christ and remained in intimate contact with Him. Consequently, no matter what difficulties came his way, he was able to stand firm, his faith unwavering (2 Cor. 4:7 - 18).


Excuses and complaints


It is not uncommon to hear these excuses and complaints from Church members:


"I'd like to get closer to the Lord, but my job demands a lot from me and doesn't leave me with much time."


"I want to grow in my Christian walk, but I can't get the support I need from the Church. Nobody has been reaching out to me!'


"I just can't seem to get a handle on God's will for my life. He's sure keeping it secret from me!"


The above three different "defense mechanisms" often conveniently used to protect ourselves from other people. Oddly enough, we also use these same devices to protect ourselves from God. Now, why would any Christian want to protect himself from God? The reason being, God is the greatest possible threat to our lifestyles. He is interested in changing hearts, changing habits, and indeed, changing lives. But we can't hide ourselves from the eyes of an all-knowing God!


The writer of Hebrews said: "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account" (Heb. 4:13).


Rather than open ourselves up to the change process that God brings into our lives (to make us more like Christ), we often erect barriers. Or, we scramble to protect ourselves, seeking to avoid any pain that might be involved in conforming to God's will. When our overall orientation is to "play it safe," our relationship with Him will inevitably suffer.


Spiritual Old Age

Many Christians who are relatively young in the Lord, but already showing the characteristics of what can be called "spiritual old age." The resulting symptoms closely parallel the same conditions we often observe in those old people who have become set in their ways: unteachableness, loss of flexibility, a focus on past events, and an inward orientation to life.


Unteachableness


The longer a person lives, the more opportunities he or she will have to learn. And yet, the older we become, the more likely we are to assume we know all we need to know on a given subject. We then cut ourselves off from additional learning and refuse to accept the opinions, advice, or correction of other people.


Similarly, the older we are in the Lord, the more stubborn and less teachable we often become. It is unfortunate when older Christians compare themselves to others and decide they have arrived at a sufficient level of spirituality. They may then develop judgmental attitudes towards other believers who are not as knowledgeable.


A loss of flexibility


As we become older, we often prefer to have the events of our lives conform to a consistent routine. It isn't easy for us to adapt to rapid, dramatic changes. By structuring our lives in a predictable manner, we avoid the threat of uncertainty and maintain a sense of control.


In much the same way, when we lose our spiritual youthfulness, we are only comfortable with a Christianity that does not cause us to deal with the insecurity of unexpected changes. We begin to "require" God to act within the narrow confines of our human understanding and to fit into our expectations of what He will and will not do. But, in doing so, we become satisfied with a mere mechanical performance of our traditions, since these activities can take place with little or no dependance upon God.


Focus on past events


During the latter years of life, it is common to focus on memories of the past. But, preoccupation with the past can block out the enjoyment of the present. Many Christians begin with a powerful revelation of God's love and grace, but do not continue to stay in touch with Him. They try to live off the strength of their initial experience. Because of this, they stopped growing, changing, accepting challenges, and learning. Consequently, their spiritual walk was leading them nowhere!


An inward orientation


Very often, in the early years of our spiritual life, we were eager to serve others and focused on their welfare, but now we feel that it is time to "retire" and see to our own selfish needs. By tuning into ourselves and our own interests, we consequently tuned out the needs of others. We become self-centered in our Christian life.


We need to be remineded that we can never justify failing to devote any of our time to helping others find Christ. Have we lost our compassion and forgotten our calling as Christians to minister to the hurting people around us?


Renewal and Restoration


It is important to examing your life in the light of the above four characteristics of spiritual old age. If any or all of these qualities are currently a part of your Christian experience, you can receive encouragement from Isaiah:


"Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fail, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not weary, they shall walk and not faint" (Isaiah 40:30, 31).


Isaiah was referring to the ability of eagles to glide with ease on the strength of an existing air current. While other birds seem to fly by flapping their wings and exerting a lot of their own energy, the eagles calmly perches on the edge of a cliff and waits for a gust of the air before launching out. The blowing wind provides the impetus forward; the eagle patiently waits for it and begins its flight accordingly. By moving ahead on the strength of the air current, the eagle can soar at high altitudes seemingly without effort or restraint.


Perhaps you are a person whose life evidences spiritual old age. If so, God wants to restore your your youthfulness! He will refresh you in His presence and renew you in His love. And He will teach you to soar like an eagle in the rushing, mighty wind of His Spirit (Acts 2). But you must learn to wait for the Lord, for "He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength" (Isaiah 40:29).


We cannot move ahead in the Christian life by wildly flapping our wings - we must learn to move ahead in the power of His Spirit. In other words, our hope for spiritual progress must be anchored in God alone.


Have you lost your hope today that God will renew the days of your youthful zeal and vitality? Do you feel that you have wasted a lot of time and have been a failure in the Lord's eyes? It is time to turn back to Him with your whole heart! He will renew your strength and rejuvenate you. As the Psalmist aptly put it: ".... Who (God) satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Ps. 103:5).


If you have received God's power of renewal and restoration, you will never leave "Your First Love!"