“Love without absolute truth as the foundation is sentimental sugar; that only makes us fat and delirious in our hedonism.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today –April 26, 2023
Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Revelation 2:4, NKJV
The first love of a bride and groom is tender, energetic, and bubbling over in total trust. And, there is an inherent purity and beauty in marrying your first love…no exes to worry about, only memories about you two to be celebrated. When you came to faith in Jesus, you became His bride, and He became your first love. The joy of your salvation exploded with songs of worship and praise to the Lover of your soul. Nothing even comes close to comparing to Christ’s love for you and you for Him. Tender, energetic, and bubbling over in total trust is your oneness of intimate love with Jesus. Sweet memories of sitting and soaking in His presence while any other suitors for your soul lost all appeal, even became disgusting. Your first Love still longs for you.
The beloved, first love of Jesus…John the Apostle writes to a body of believers who started strong, then drifted…and some, even swept away from their first love. Commended for good deeds but now called out for bad behavior and lacking the zeal and joy of their first encounter of coming to Christ. The Spirit of God, through John, is calling them back to the joy of their salvation and to the essentials of loving God and loving others with prayer and good works. Back to a pure worship void of other gods of this world and idols of intimacy that capture the heart with distorted affections. The world was in the church with watered-down beliefs, and the church was not impacting the world with its fruitless lifestyle. The church was lacking real love within and without. God was against them for leaving their first love…and God being against you is not good.
“Remember how you once loved Me. Be sorry for your sin and love Me again as you did at first. If you do not, I will come to you and take your light out of its place. I will do this unless you are sorry for your sin and turn from it” (Revelation 2:5, NLV).
Sadly, and embarrassingly the American church, today even much more than just 10 or 15 years ago, has departed in droves from their first love. A good portion of these disillusioned church people have stumbled away into fabricated beliefs. Embracing a love that’s not love at all, just an illusion of what’s relevant to a culture “believing and doing what’s right in its own eyes.” There was once a day not too far in the distant past when God was very much for most churches, but now He is against them. When God is against us, it means we have been swept up by little ditties of watered-down so-called doctrine. Love without absolute truth as the foundation is sentimental sugar; that only makes us fat and delirious in our hedonism. Jesus yearns for us to come back to our first Love. Since the Lord loved us first, we are being drawn by the divine to shine for Him.
Take a sober assessment of your relationship with Jesus Christ. You may discover that your religious experience has only been external activity without any real internal transformation. For you to experience your first Love with the Lord will be your very first authentic experience of truly being the Bride of Christ. Your first Love is in the hot pursuit of your heart, not a Lover who gives up over being ignored or rejected. Like the prodigal turning toward home after being left empty and alone by distorted loves… your loving Father is running toward you with true love…your first and only love that matters. Embrace, weep, and celebrate being loved to love!
“Love one another because I have loved you first” (1 John 4:19).
Prayer
Heavenly Father, lead me into a meaningful and deep intimacy in my love with you…God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit through Christ’s love, and in Jesus’ name, amen.
Application
Be bold to support and engage with a church that embraces and celebrates their first love of following and obeying Jesus Christ and His biblical teachings.
Related Reading
Matthew 24:12; John 3:16, 13:35; Ephesians 4:1-3; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 4:8
Worship Resource
TAYA: For All My Life
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