Returning to My First Love
Do the works you did at first.
–Revelation 3:5b
What does that mean? How are those different from what I am doing not?
How do I define “first love?” First in importance or in order?
Both, probably.
First in importance was the love I had for Jesus after my encounter with His astonishing love as I gazed, guilt -stricken at the portrayal of His suffering at the whipping post, the scourging.
I had encountered Him before: as a two-year-old aware of my inability to obey or do right; as an eight-year-old “sheep” recognizing my need for a Shepherd and friend; as a teenager acknowledging His claim of Kingship in my life; but it was not until, in full view of my horrendous sin, I saw the extent of His freely given love did I burst forth in love for Him. First love!
What did I do then that I am not doing now?
The encounter did not cure me of all my sin-sicknesses, but powerfully reminded me of what they cost Him, and drove a desperate desire to be completely like the One who loves me most and best. Is that what I need to return to?
Yes. To give myself over to that transforming love, to vigorously purse a life that shows Him to be most lovable and most worthy of love, to love Him in my eating, my dressing, my housekeeping, my conversations, my spending, my homesteading…Yes… to love Him with all I am every day in the everyday.
To love Him first and foremost…praying for His guidance and ability to re-discover and obey.
Thanks for being with me on this journey as I…
Follow Jesus every day in the everyday,
Christi
P.S. You can hear the song that resulted from that first-love encounter, or see it on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2w-_U03oKM
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