Encouragement For Today...Have You Lost Your First Love?

To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, . . . “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” ~ Revelation 2:1, 4

The risen Lord Jesus asked His servant, John the apostle, who was exiled on a small Greek island, to write some letters to a group of churches for Him. And that’s how we know what Christ thought about the church! He wrote to the believers at Ephesus and reprimanded them because they had lost their zeal and first love for Him.

What do you think of the church? Do you consider it outdated, boring, cold? Have you ever stopped to think what Christ thinks of it? He tells us in the Book of Revelation. The church is not a building, but the people that meet inside it. It is not somewhere you go, but something you are!

First love motivates us to serve others.

When you lose your first love for Christ, you lose your love for unbelievers, too. You even lose your love for fellow Christians. First love always wants to please. I enjoyed my teenagers’ being in love. They usually wanted to help with the dishes! First love doesn’t only help with the dishes, first love does the dishes! First love goes the extra mile, or two or three or four! First love stops asking, “What can God do for me?” and starts inquiring, “What can I do for God?” First love sings in the rain, and first love always replies to God’s letters!

If God sent you a letter telling you He was upset with you for losing your first love, how would you respond? How would you answer His letter?

Everyday we should make an effort to spend time with the lord who loved us first even before we loved him. Renew ourselves in Him by waiting on Him. When we do that our lives will be immaculately lit, the presence of peace from the lord will rest on us. The grace to also love others will come upon us and struggles and trials will become easier to bear because we have the Lover of our soul right next to us, bearing the burdensome load with us.

Return to your first love today, will you?
Stay blessed

By Jill Briscoe and additional words by somethingbeautifulandblessed