Your First Love

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Revelation 2:4 says, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.”

     There are many things in my life that I take for granted.  That is, I do them all the time and expect it to be the same the next time I do it.  I go to the sink, turn on the faucet, and get a drink of water.  I set  my thermostat for 72 degrees and the temperature is always at 72 degrees.  When I drove a car, I would turn on the ignition and the car would start.  Such normal things that occur often in  our lives can become complacent in that they are always there and it is a shock to us when they suddenly do not work or appear as they did before.  

     Sometimes, the continual presence in our lives of one thing or another promotes a sense of unappreciation in one way or another.  We live in a society that has forgotten plain common sense and morals and manners.  Our lack of appreciation for the common things of life can also be traced into our spiritual lives.  The pattern is the same.  The old believers have always relied on the presence of the Holy Spirit i their lives and also to know that Christ is our Savior and someday, we will stand face to face with Him in glory.  The charge against the church at Ephesus was simple and very applicable today.  ‘...thou hast left thy first love.”  We may ask ourselves, “How could a church such as Ephesus leave their first love?”  Christ  had to be their first love but the left that behind in their search for sound doctrine, which they did accomplish.  They wee, perhaps, right  on target when it came tot h e doctrines of the church, yet they had left their first love.  Do you remember how it was when you first came to Christ?  Do you recall the joy that was in your heart and how your life was changed?  Some things changed right away and other things saw a gradual process as the Lord worked on your heart.  Oftentimes, our lives become such a habit that we can predict what comes next in the average church service because we have always done it the same way.  We have preludes and postludes.  We have an offering at a certain point.  We often sing the doxology at the same place in the service that we have done in the past.  Special music is often heard at the same spot and the sermons are the same length “most” of the time.  However, many cannot recall the scripture passage or the main points of the message thirty minutes after they were heard.  The sign over the inside of the main door reads, “You are now entering the mission field.” yet we have forgotten just what that means and how we are going to participate in it.  We numbly sing he chorus, “The joy of the Lord is my strength” with no expression, because we have left our first love.  Praise God that He will never leave us.