Have You Left Your First Love?
Revelation 2:4 "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 lamptstand from its place- unless you repent." This was a message to the loveless church in Ephesus. They had lost that fervent love for the Lord that they had in the beginning and had slipped into an empty routine. The Lord is reminding them here that if it continued and they didn't repent, that He would remove their lampstand- their light- their witness in the world.
The Lord is giving His church and individual Christians the same warning today. That word "left" carries with it the element of neglect, forsake and leaving alone. We may not have actually "left" the Lord, but we may have neglected Him, not paying enough attention to Him. We may not be maintaining or nurturing our relationship with Christ. Many Christians' love for the Lord is no longer hot and fiery. It lacks the warmth and vitality that it once had. It doesn't hold the same position and priority that it once had.
There is a place in God that even amid our trials, stresses and challenges that we face in life where we can still have that fervent love for Christ. Nothing can separate us from that. Paul stated in Romans 8:35-38 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" Verse 38: "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,nor height nor depth,nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
When a Christian's love begins to grow warm then cool, then cold-- it is a subtle progression. Sometimes we are not aware of it until it is too late. In a marriage when we begin to neglect our relationship with our spouse- when we think other things are more important- our love will begin to grow cool then cold. We must set up a guard to keep this from happening. No person, thing or activity- even children or jobs- should ever take precedence over our spouse. Yes, sometimes responsibilities press in- but we must learn in these pressures to always keep our relationship first priority. It is the same in our relationship with Christ. We must feed that love the proper fuel to keep it burning hot and fervent. We must fuel our relationship with pure worship and praise; thanksgiving; study of and obedience to the Word; prayer- and not grieving the Holy Spirit in our individual lives. (Ephesians 4:30)
In Isaiah 63:10 the Israelites grieved the Spirit by disobedience, stubbornness, disbelief and by rejecting God and His Word. Numbers 4:11 tells us that even though they had all the signs and wonders which God had performed, they still lived and moved in disbelief. The spies had come back from the Promised Land and only two out of ten had a good report. The people believed the bad report and they rebelled against Moses and refused to enter the Promised Land. How many today are the same? They listen to backslidden, lukewarm Christians that complain how bad things are and that God has forgotten them. They listen to all the negative talk and instead of listening to the good report of the Lord- they live and move in fear and disbelief.
In this day of violence, wars, chaos and confusion- we cannot give in to fear and unbelief. If we do- we will eventually leave our first love and God will remove our lampstand. We will not longer be an effective witness in a very dark world. We must nurture and maintain our love for the Lord. We must make Him the highest priority in our lives. We must love Him with a white hot fervent love. We can not let anything or anyone separate us from that love. Take time now to examine yourselves and see where you stand. Are you more in love with Jesus today than you were yesterday? A month ago? A year ago? Are you finding yourself increasingly hungry for His manifest presence? Or have you neglected that relationship? Have you left other things come in and take its place and now you find that being around fired up Christians makes you uncomfortable? Do you want to change the subject when they talk about the Lord? Do you try to hide from them? You are not hiding from them but you are trying to hide from the Lord and you cannot. He knows exactly where you are. Obey the Word and repent and do the first works-- ask the Lord for a fresh outpouring of His Spirit and fire within you. He is faithful to answer that kind of prayer.
The Lord is giving His church and individual Christians the same warning today. That word "left" carries with it the element of neglect, forsake and leaving alone. We may not have actually "left" the Lord, but we may have neglected Him, not paying enough attention to Him. We may not be maintaining or nurturing our relationship with Christ. Many Christians' love for the Lord is no longer hot and fiery. It lacks the warmth and vitality that it once had. It doesn't hold the same position and priority that it once had.
There is a place in God that even amid our trials, stresses and challenges that we face in life where we can still have that fervent love for Christ. Nothing can separate us from that. Paul stated in Romans 8:35-38 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" Verse 38: "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,nor height nor depth,nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
When a Christian's love begins to grow warm then cool, then cold-- it is a subtle progression. Sometimes we are not aware of it until it is too late. In a marriage when we begin to neglect our relationship with our spouse- when we think other things are more important- our love will begin to grow cool then cold. We must set up a guard to keep this from happening. No person, thing or activity- even children or jobs- should ever take precedence over our spouse. Yes, sometimes responsibilities press in- but we must learn in these pressures to always keep our relationship first priority. It is the same in our relationship with Christ. We must feed that love the proper fuel to keep it burning hot and fervent. We must fuel our relationship with pure worship and praise; thanksgiving; study of and obedience to the Word; prayer- and not grieving the Holy Spirit in our individual lives. (Ephesians 4:30)
In Isaiah 63:10 the Israelites grieved the Spirit by disobedience, stubbornness, disbelief and by rejecting God and His Word. Numbers 4:11 tells us that even though they had all the signs and wonders which God had performed, they still lived and moved in disbelief. The spies had come back from the Promised Land and only two out of ten had a good report. The people believed the bad report and they rebelled against Moses and refused to enter the Promised Land. How many today are the same? They listen to backslidden, lukewarm Christians that complain how bad things are and that God has forgotten them. They listen to all the negative talk and instead of listening to the good report of the Lord- they live and move in fear and disbelief.
In this day of violence, wars, chaos and confusion- we cannot give in to fear and unbelief. If we do- we will eventually leave our first love and God will remove our lampstand. We will not longer be an effective witness in a very dark world. We must nurture and maintain our love for the Lord. We must make Him the highest priority in our lives. We must love Him with a white hot fervent love. We can not let anything or anyone separate us from that love. Take time now to examine yourselves and see where you stand. Are you more in love with Jesus today than you were yesterday? A month ago? A year ago? Are you finding yourself increasingly hungry for His manifest presence? Or have you neglected that relationship? Have you left other things come in and take its place and now you find that being around fired up Christians makes you uncomfortable? Do you want to change the subject when they talk about the Lord? Do you try to hide from them? You are not hiding from them but you are trying to hide from the Lord and you cannot. He knows exactly where you are. Obey the Word and repent and do the first works-- ask the Lord for a fresh outpouring of His Spirit and fire within you. He is faithful to answer that kind of prayer.
Dear Lord,
Forgive us for neglecting You and our relationship and help us to move on with a fresh anointing of your love. Help us to keep our love relationship with You fresh and new; a white hot love for You.
In Jesus' Name, Amen
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