In the book of Revelation Jesus instructs John to write the churches what he approves and what he is critical of. To the church at Ephesus John writes:
“But I have this against you that you have left your first love.” Ephesians 2:4
C. S. Lewis said, “Every Christian would agree that a man’s spiritual health is exactly proportional to his love for God.” If you lose your first love for Jesus no amount of service or charity you do will save your spiritual health.
The decisions that we make every single day either reinforce or erode our love for Christ. By replacing activity for an intimate daily nurturing relationship with Jesus we run the risk of losing our first love.
The closest parallel to this picture of neglecting your first love is marriage itself. I remember hearing a counselor speaking to a group of people at a marriage seminar and talking about a friend of his who said he was going to file for divorce. He said he no longer loved his wife. The counselor said, “Did you fall in love with your wife the moment you saw her?” He said, “No. We dated for a period of time. It took a period of time to fall in love with my wife.” He said, “You grew in love over a period of time. Isn’t it interesting, too, that it wasn’t just one moment that you grew out of love. It was over a period of time, as a result of neglecting and replacing things and as other priorities came in, that you grew out of that love relationship with your wife. As you grew into love, you grew out of love.”
The same is true with our relationship with the Lord. We’ve got to identify – our first love has to be Jesus. Are we creating time and places and experiences with Jesus? We’ve got to be doing that every day.
Your pastor and partner in ministry,
Kyle
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