Your First Love

by Terry Wane Benton

"Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love" (Revelation 2:4).

The first love was the focused and enthusiastic love they had at the early stages of their conversion. As John in his epistle stated, “We love Him because He first loved us” (I John 4:19) and it was such a rich and attractive love that drew us to Him. As the old hymn said, “O twas wonderful, wonderful love, that brought Him from heaven above. As a ransom to die on the tree, to save a poor sinner like me.”

Is the passion and fervor what it was before? The Lord knows when we are losing our enthusiasm but holding on to externals. Has the fire begun to die within? We can’t hide the truth of this from Jesus who walks among us and knows us thoroughly!

Jesus warned that in the days leading up to the fall of Jerusalem “the love of many would grow cold” (Matthew 24:13). Jesus also talked about in normal life we may not have prepared the ground of our faith sufficiently so that the cares of the world grow up as thorns around us squeezing out our spiritual vitality (Matthew 13:22), refocusing our lives on less meaningful things until the joy and commitment to Jesus begins to take a back seat, and unfortunately becomes empty ritual if anything at all.

The Spirit is speaking to us. Are you listening to what He is saying? Have you moved away from Jesus being your first love? What will you do about it?