Remember Your First Love

If you are married, remember when you first met your future husband or wife? What did you do? You wanted to impress him or her, so you ironed your clothes, maybe put on some expensive perfume or cologne, said nice things, and were on your best behavior.

Then maybe a courtship developed and you were boyfriend and girlfriend. Then you were engaged. Then, ultimately, you were married. And then, as they say, the honeymoon is over. Everything started to change.

Guess what? This can happen in your relationship with God as well. Remember when you first gave your life to Jesus Christ? How exciting it was that your sins had been forgiven. Those walls of bitterness came crashing down. That void in your life was filled with God himself, and you were flooded with a joy and a peace that passed all understanding. Someone told you that you could pray and talk to God wherever you were. How exciting that was.

But have things changed with the passing of time? You still pray . . . when you think of it. You still read the Bible . . . sporadically at best. You are willing to share your faith . . . but only if someone approaches you and asks about your beliefs.

What has happened? Probably the same thing that happened to the church of Ephesus: you are beginning to leave your first love. Was there a time when you were closer to God than you are today?

If you have begun to leave your first love, here is the good news. As Jesus said to the church of Ephesus, "Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works . . ." (Revelation 2:5). Remember, repent, and then get back to where you were before.