Original Love
Our friend, Cathy, has walked to get around most of her life, but
recently she started floating. She's got this glow. She's got a new
bounce in her voice when she answers the phone. She's got a new
confidence. Cathy's more alive than we've ever seen her. Now what
magic could bring about all these wonders? If you haven't guessed by
now, you have been away too long. She's in love! She's in her
twenties, and this is her first really big romance. It might be her
life-long romance, and it's pretty exciting to watch.
Let's talk about "Original Love."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Revelation 2. It's
about love. God's talking to a powerhouse group of believers. He says
in verse 2, "I know your deeds. I know your hard work. I know your
perseverance. I know you cannot tolerate wicked men. You've tested
those who claim to be apostles but are not, and you found them false.
You have persevered. You have endured hardships for my name. You've
not grown weary." Man, these are believers who were doing a whole lot
of things right. They're going to get the Church of the Year Award,
right? No, they're missing what Jesus values the most. Listen to
Revelation 2:4, "Yet I hold this against you. You have forsaken your
first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen. Repent
and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will
come to you and remove your lampstand from its place." He says, "You
guys have fallen. You don't love me like you used to. Oh, you've got
the right theology. You've got the right lifestyle. You've got the
right activities, but that's not it." The height of your
relationship with Him was when you loved Him with original love.
Could Jesus be saying to you right now, "You don't love me like you
used to?" So much is right in your life, and I'm grateful for
that, but maybe the big thing isn't right. You don't love Him like
you used to. The idea of first love has taken on flesh and blood
again as I watched it come alive in Cathy's romance. First love
isn't cerebral, it's emotional. Do you have deep feelings for Jesus,
or has the passion of loving Him grown cold? I want to be more moved
by Jesus; more moved by what He did for me on the cross than I've
ever been in my life. I have more to be moved by than I ever did
when I first started with Him. Cathy's original love is expectant.
She looks forward to each new day of being with, and talking with,
and going places with the man she loves. That's how a Jesus-lover
looks at his or her day--being with Him, talking with him in the many
different experiences of this day.
I'm watching in Cathy a love that is buoyant. No problem seems big
enough to sink her now because of a love that's bigger than all of
that. Well, those who deeply love Jesus experience buoyancy. It's so
easy for the warmth of first love to die. In our relationship with
Jesus, first love gets quenched by rules, and rat-race, and
religiosity, responsibilities, and sometimes by plain old
spiritual adultery where we let something else have the best of our love.
Maybe Jesus is calling you back in to that love; that love you had
when you knew Him a lot less, but you loved Him more. Loving Jesus
has always begun at the same place, "that old rugged cross" the hymn
says, "stained with blood so divine, has a wondrous attraction for
me. Where the dear Lamb of God left His glory above, to bear it to
dark Calvary." In the middle of all our Christianity, it's easy to
forget what it's all about. It's a relationship; it's a love affair
with the Lord Jesus.
It's a relationship, perhaps you've never ever really begun. You have
Christianity, but you missed Christ somewhere. You've never really
experienced His love; His religion, yes--His love, no. This could be
your day if you'll just say, "Jesus, I'm Yours."
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