First Love

First Love

[God said,] “I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. . . . You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me.” Revelation 2:2-5

A Christ-centered life in which God by his Spirit lives in us begins with returning to our First Love. Do you remember your first months after your commitment to Christ or experiencing renewal in your relationship with God? I recall sitting at the kitchen table, reading the Bible and listening for the “marching orders” God had for me that day. Oh, how I enjoyed just being in the Lord’s presence. More than anything I desired to know God and do his will. First love, someone once said, is the abandonment of all for a love that has abandoned all. First love means such affection and devotion to Christ that we are willing to abandon everything for him, who laid down his life for us.

Maybe when you first surrendered to Christ, you ran to spend time with him; you read the Bible as if it were a gripping novel, and hung on God’s every word. Then you got so busy working hard for the Lord that you lost the freshness of being with him, loving him, and basking in his presence. Other things—people, ministry, career, family—began to take first place instead of Jesus.

In today’s passage, God wasn’t ignoring the believers’ good works. He commended them for their hard work and perseverance, how they patiently suffered without quitting. But he was calling them and all believers throughout history back to a close, loving, and vital relationship with Christ. How encouraging it is that although we can’t force this kind of love or fabricate it, the Lord as our Bridegroom is always wooing us and calling us back to his love! —CHERI

Lord, often in my working and doing, I lose the simple devotion of loving you. Thank you for your invitation, “Turn back to me,” and for your arms that are open wide to receive me.

I have one passion only: It is he! It is he!

—COUNT NIKOLAUS LUDWIG VON ZINZENDORF (1700–1760), GERMAN REFORMER