One day a lawyer asked Jesus a question, tempting Him to say something against the Law of Moses. He asked Jesus “which is the great commandment of the law? Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all they heart, and with all they soul, and with all they mind. This is the first and great commandment!” (Matthew 22:36-37) Mark 12:30 add the phrase: (“with all they might!”)
The only adequate response to the love the Heavenly Father expressed toward us in sending Jesus Christ to be our Savior, is to return His love to Him through our actions and attitudes:
- To love Him with all our heart—meaning to love God supremely more than any other person, any other thing, or any other entity, as evidenced by our willingness to give those things up if and when He asks us to.
- To love Him with all our soul—meaning to devote our mind to Him; surrender our will to Him, and to focus our emotions upon Him, to the point that He becomes our all in all—the very basis for our existence.
- To love Him with all our mind—to love His law more than the knowledge of man, and to so saturate our mind with the knowledge of God that we can know both the will and ways of God.
- To love Him with all our might—to labor and toil as God gives us strength, yet only and always for His glory!
“The only adequate response to the love of the
Heavenly Father expressed toward us in sending
Jesus Christ to be our Savior, is to return His love
to Him through our actions and attitudes.”
When we become a Christian, God the Holy Spirit indwells us and Sheds the love of God within our heart. He fills us with His “first fruit”, which is His “love”. Without relying too much on the world’s terminology, the Holy Spirit causes us to literally “fall in love with Jesus”, who then draws our attention to God the Father.
When we were first saved, we were flooded with that “first love” for Jesus. We couldn’t stop thinking about Him or talking to Him or singing songs of praise unto Him! The Word of God became a source of strength as the same old truths began to spring forth with new life and new meaning. Corporate worship with other believers became the “stack pole” around which our week was built and fellowship with other believers was more important than any other activity. Good works happened automatically, as we saw every event, every encounter with a person, every phone call every conversation an opportunity to tell others about Jesus and how He had radically changed our lives. And if someone needed a physical expression of that love, we were quick to give to their need, even without making sure it was going to be used as given. All we wanted people to see was that we loved the Lord with all our hearts, soul, mind, and might.
Have you left Your First Love” Has the “first love” of Jesus been replace by your love for anything or anyone else?
- Has that “first Love” of Jesus been replaced with church events and activities?
- Has the Bible become stale again? When was the last time God spoke to you through His Word?
- Has prayer become meaningless or memorized words with no expectations of seeing God do exceeding, abundant above all we could ask or think?
- Does God’s presence seem to be more distant than He was before?
- Has “church” become more of a social gathering than a place of worship?
- Has your heart towards others closed to their suffering and need?
- Has your conversation with others changed so that you are talking more about the things of this earth than the soon-coming, Lord Jesus?
If you answered “yes” to the majority of those questions, the evidence is you have “left” your first love! You haven’t “lost” it—you’ve “left” it—you have allowed your “love” for God to be replaced by “law”—actions, attitudes, and activities. Something or someone has sapped the passion of Christ from your heart and replaced it with religion, and it just will not satisfy!
Leaving your first love for Jesus is no small thing with Him. In Revelation 2:5ff, Jesus exhorted the church of Ephesus to: “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I will come and remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent!”
This 30-day study guide is to help RESTORE your first love for Jesus by helping you remember the significant events of your salvation, repent of having turned away from those central teachings and then giving you some practical steps to help you return to your first love.—wje
I invite you back tomorrow for Part 2 of the introduction of “REDISCOVERING YOUR FIRST LOVE!”