Thy first love

Revelation 2:4

Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

As I read this, my heart is deeply affected. I hesitate to write on such a powerful verse as this, one that is as a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow. It is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart! My first love! Your first love! What is your first love, and how far have you come from it? No doubt, our first love must be the Lord. Everything else will flow out of that. The first and great commandment is to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength. That is the first love! The love of our Savior! We love Him because He first loved us. If we ever get away from this love, we are in great peril. For all ship-wrecks have happened because we were blown off course. We must not leave our first love!

But, we know that we are prone and apt to leave our first love. We get concentrated, distracted, focused on many things in this life. We become careful and troubled about many things. And we have forgotten that one thing is needful! We have forgotten where it all started. We have made secondary things primary things, and have placed that which should not be the centerpiece of our lives in the center of everything. One great preacher used to tell us that we have made a goal out of a by-product. What is first? Is it the love of Christ? Or has that been drowned out and overwhelmed by that which came later? Let us not make that which is to be first anything other than first! And let us not make lesser things the major things. There are lesser things and there are greater things. And our eyes must be on the greatest things. Indeed, our heart must be transfixed on the greatest thing—our love for Christ.

Dear friend, if you have been blown off course, or have forgotten that which is above all else, go back today to where you started. Fall in love with the Savior again, and remember from whence you came. Do the first works! Remember your first love! And ask the Lord to never let you forget that again. He is your first love! His calling is your first calling! A relationship with Him is your primary purpose! Return this day in heart and mind and soul to your first love.

“Dear Lord, you truly are the first love of our lives. You are truly the first who ever loved us, and the one to whom our whole lives belong. May we never forget Thee. May we never forget our love for Thee in the great distractions and events of life. May we stay our mind and heart on our first love. May nothing become more important than you are. You are first; all else is second. May we keep that divine order, for it shall keep us in your will at all times. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.”