Our First Love

Verse of the day: 1 Samuel 4:22, And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”

One of the most tragic scenes I have observed are buildings that have been transformed into restaurants or condos, when they were once thriving local churches. There is nothing that can be sadder than having the light of the Gospel extinguished in a city or town. There are local churches that have gone from preaching Christ to being more concerned with church politics and how the building looks on the outside, rather than what is being preached on the inside. Like Israel, when the Lord is no longer our First Love, it will show in the way we wither away. Israel was in a sad and broken condition. They were defeated by the Philistines and the Ark of God was taken. The prophecy concerning Eli’s sons was fulfilled (v. 17), Eli fell back while sitting in his chair and broke his neck (v. 18). Phinehas’ wife, after hearing all this, dies after giving birth to their son. The long and short of it is that Israel is in disarray because they were unrepentant about their sin against the Lord. The God of Israel was no longer their first love and now they are paying the price for walking away from Him. There have been many Christian churches and ministries that have dwindled and died because they have strayed from the truth and compromised the Message for the sake of trying to win the lost. This dwindling and state of disarray can happen up close and personal for each one of us if we forget our First Love. How does this happen you ask? It happens when we lose the excitement of being saved and having eternal life. It happens when we begin to neglect prayer and the study of God’s Word. It happens when we begin to forsake the gathering together with others of like faith (Hebrew 10:24-25). It happens when the things of this world become more important in our lives than the things of God. James 4:4 tells us, “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” How do we get back to where we were in making Jesus our First Love once again? The best advice we can follow is Jesus’ own words to the Church at Ephesus in Revelation 2:5, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.” We must remember the days when we were so excited that we would tell everyone about our new found faith, and start telling people again. Ask ourselves, “When was the last time I told someone about Jesus?” Ask God to show us what is in our hearts and are we harboring sin that needs to be repented of and confessed. Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; 24 and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Then we must be ready to go before the Lord and do just that, repent and confess. Once we have done that, we need to serve the Lord in the same manner in which we are encouraged to in 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” The time is long overdue for us to get back to making Jesus the First Love of our lives again.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).