Remember Your First Love

Revelation 2: 1 – 5 

Perhaps Satan’s most insidious tool is masked behind the façade of success. When he cannot deceive us, divide us, or daunt us, what he will often do is divert us. He allows us to be successful when we get our eyes off Jesus and on other items or objects. He gets us away from our first love, the love we had first, and foremost. He uses good things to get our eyes off the one truly good thing, Jesus.

Jesus loves you. Do you love Him more today than at any time in your life?

If you have never trusted Him as your Savior, today is a matchless time to turn in trust and thrust yourself dependently upon Him with reliance for His grace in time and for eternity.

If you are a Christian and you cannot honestly say you are closer to Him than ever in your life, you have backslidden. Today is a marvelous time to return and renew your devotion.

Do you remember when the very citizenship of your soul changed kingdoms?  Remember the pure, almost sacred, feelings you had when you came to Jesus?  The paradise of first love is a germ that needs to be cultured and allowed to grow. The emotion may fade, but the relationship can and must grow in intimacy. Our emotions, that is our feelings change, as they must, but the confident relationship must grow.

As we grow spiritually, feelings may change, but facts don’t.

Sentiment must be stabilized by study.

Ecstasy must be embraced by experience.

Passion must be predicated on principles.

Persons don’t take giant steps away from Jesus. Their devotion most often deteriorates imperceptibly.  A flower dies so slowly that from moment to moment the decaying process is not noticeable. However, after a few days the difference is distinct.

Forgetfulness of our first love usually begins with a few slight indulgences that you formerly would not have tolerated. A casual brief venture into enemy territory may result in alienation from your first love. This often happens because of attraction by good things that absorbs our devotion more than our involvement in Him. Sometimes it is an evil thing. Often it is a good thing given gradual devotion. It might even be a thing as good as Bible study. It may be form rather than faith in worship.

If your zeal has waned or even if you are in fellowship sing to yourself:

“Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me. See on the portals He’s waiting and watching, watching for you and for me. Come home, come home, yea who are weary come home, come home. Earnestly, tenderly Jesus is calling, calling oh sinner come home.”