Hi Reeva,
A very powerful and thought provoking article.  Thank you for sharing it.
Huggs,
Virgie and Lady Hoshi
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Reeva Parry" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2007 5:13 PM
Subject: Original Love


> 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."