Someone once wrote, “Love is a many splendored thing.” Human beings are obsessed with love – rightfully so. Love is completely intangible, yet supremely indispensible. Love is nearly impossible to define, yet most of us can’t imagine an existence devoid of it. It frustrates us and fulfills us at the same time. It fills our stomachs with butterflies and, at times, injects our hearts with pain. Yet, in spite of heartache, we still search for enduring love. We write songs about love, make movies about love, and read books about love. Love truly is vital for us to flourish as people.
Many of us have been found by Christ and have tasted the love of God – a love that quenches a profound yearning for intimacy and purpose deep in our souls. Most of us can remember the moment our eyes were opened to the love that Jesus was offering to us. Maybe you were in church and you heard a message about the love of God that paid for your sins and you were suddenly struck with the realization that you needed the forgiveness that this love offered. Maybe you were at home and the words of a friend or family member finally soaked in and the barriers that you had built suddenly began crumbling under the realization that God loved you in spite of all that you had done. Maybe you were driving in your car and you heard a stranger’s voice declaring the immeasurable love of Jesus through the airwaves and as the Holy Spirit enlightened your heart you surrendered to His unspeakable grace. Wherever you were, you probably remember the immense joy and indescribable love that swamped your soul and engulfed your life.
The funny thing about love, though, is that in spite of the fact that it is vital for our existence, we so easily begin to take it for granted. It happens all the time with married couples. A man pursues, woos, and romances the woman of his dreams until she finally capitulates and agrees to marry him. Most of the time, men don’t do a very good job of keeping that romance going. After a time, the same man that went out of his way to court the woman he married will begin to take her love for granted. Unfortunately, the same is true of us as lovers of Jesus. Most of us experience incredible love and gratitude toward Jesus when we first meet Him, but too often after a few years the fire of that love grows cold. If many of us were to examine our hearts closely, we might find that we have directed our love and our passion away from the things that really matter in life and toward things that are fleeting. In particular, many of us would discover that we have grown to love other things more than we love Jesus…and I hope that discovery would break your heart.
That’s what happened to the church in Ephesus when its members were forced to realize that they had lost their first love. In Revelation 2, Jesus commends them for their works, their endurance, and their doctrine. On the heels of that commendation He says, “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” They had done all the right things, but had forgotten why they were doing them. Jesus offered a prescription to them for rediscovering what they had lost. In Revelation 2:5, Jesus said, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.”
The pathway to rediscovering your first love of Jesus starts with remembering. Remember where you used to be. Remember who you used to be. Remember what Christ saved you from. Remember what it was like to know that you had been forgiven. Remember the indescribable emotions that flooded your heart after you met the Savior. Remember all of those things and let those memories give birth to a longing to return to your first love – Jesus. After you remember, the next step is to repent. Repentance literally means “a change of mind.” To repent means that you change your mind about what’s important to you and you change your mind about what you will pursue with your time, energy, and money. You begin to agree with God about where you are as a person and ask Him to change your heart. That change of mind leads to a change of action and you “do the works you did at first.”
There are plenty of things that we need to do as a church, but the most important thing we can do is fall in love with Jesus all over again. Let’s pursue our relationship with Him. Let’s chase after the things that bring joy to His heart. Let’s fall in love with Jesus again.
