WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014
Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.—Revelation 2:4
What is the first love that Jesus was speaking of in Revelation 2? It’s similar to the kind of love that two newlyweds experience. This is mentioned in Jeremiah 2, where God says, “I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, when you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown” (verse 2). God was saying to Israel, “I remember when we had that honeymoon type of relationship.” It was a close, intimate love.
This isn’t to say that two married people can and should have that feeling of butterflies in their stomachs forever. I remember that when I first met my wife, Cathe, I would experience a loss of appetite and would get sort of jittery around her. Today, I am more in love with Cathe than I have ever been, but I am not necessarily feeling those emotions that I felt when we first met.
In the same way, God isn’t saying that He expects us to walk around with a constant emotional buzz in our lives as a result of being His followers. But He is speaking of a love that doesn’t lose sight of the very things that brought it into being. When a husband and wife begin to take each other for granted, when their life begins to become a mere routine and the romance is dying, then you can know that marriage is in danger.
This can happen to us as believers. We can start taking God for granted. We can start taking church and our faith for granted. Sure, we’re still going through the motions, but have we left our first love?
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Used by permission from Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie, PO Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514
