Do you love the Lord and each other as you did at first, when you fell in love and felt sweet stirrings that sent you to the moon and back at the very thought of Him …and them? Has your love for the Lord and loved ones become stronger or stagnant through the years? If LOVE has waned in your heart for Father and family, this story could be the spark getting fires of passion burning and bringing us back to our First Love.
Lyrics to an old song share what is needed in hearts of children all over God’s creation. “What the world needs now is love sweet love, that’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.”
Think on these words while recounting love in your life. “Take a good look around and if you’re looking down, put a little love in your heart. “ This oldie goldie showcases pain when love loses its flavor and becomes stale… ‘You don’t love me, like I love you… if you did you wouldn’t break my heart’! These words from Revelation 2 have the same message for all God’s children who are working hard, enduring patiently, bearing up for the Lord’s name sake, not growing weary, but are abandoning the love you had at first for Him!” NIV version says, “Yet I hold this against you, you have forsaken the love you had at first.” New Living Translation states, “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first.” Contemporary English Version shares, “ …but I do have something against you! And it is this. You don’t have as much love as you used to.” King James Bible says, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love” Each translation means the same thing. God is sad when we put other things before Him and let our loving relationship of respect, honor, passion, time, and love for Him grow cold. Could this be happening in your heart? Are you growing closer or farther away from the Lord and loved ones? When my first husband, Tim, passed away, (after a long battle with cancer) God convicted my heart to encourage people to love and cherish Him and loved ones while we still have time together. When my second husband, James, passed away suddenly with no time to say ‘I love you’, the urgency to share this message swelled inside my twice broken heart. My peace comes from the close relationship and first love joy Tim and I and James and I had for God, the passionate love Tim and I shared for thirty plus years and James and I shared for two years kept us ‘in love’ and loving it until death parted us, and knowing we will be together in heaven for eternity keeps me singing His songs and sharing His stories. My everlasting love for Him and them keeps my passion alive while encouraging people to passionately love and cherish the Lord and loved ones…before it’s too late! This’ tip toe around with kid gloves’ topic sends up or shuts down walls, tenders or hardens hearts, hinders or helps hurtful situations, instills desire to distance or joy to come closer in loving relationship with the Lord and loved ones! Reading a small book with a big message titled ‘First Love”, given to me by Brenda and Dave Nordin when Tim and I celebrated our twenty fifth wedding anniversary, and realizing Revelation 2:4 could be God’s message for most churches today…stirred this story.
Throughout this first month of a new year, we can be pounded by old habits we’re trying to stop, pressured with overextended schedules we’re longing to simplify, put in tough places by demanding people and situations we pray will change, and plowing through short, cold days with long ‘to do’ lists - burdened hearts - and broken relationships with the One who made us and the ones who love and cherish us…with little energy, effort, or time to rekindle fires of passion and restore close relationships with Father God and family! So, what can we do? We can pray fervently, remember our first love, put passion and purpose on our plates before filling them up with things of the world that consume and take first place in our lives. May daily planners, walls on calendars, and journals be filled with first love testimonies as we live out loud in love and look to the Lord to direct our paths this year! We can change up game plans to make lasting memories from moments that could be lost in piles of work and places of wrong atmosphere. Keeping first love passionate and precious means keeping connected with our first love and trusting Him for everything else to fall into place.
As we prune our plates, put all things in perspective, and plan wisely by starting and ending our days giving attention to the Lord and loved ones, passion will kindle fires of love that can start revivals and restore relationships all over God’s creation. With 2019 still fresh in our minds, what do you remember most that meant the most to you? When we look back on any year, the moments we have really lived are the moments we have done things in the spirit of LOVE! May this story be the spark that sets your love on fire and showcases your first love in all that you are and do! Come closer to Christ, connect, commit, and chase away anything that could cause your love to grow cold. Live out loud enjoying every day, restore your first love, cherish the Lord and loved ones with pure, passionate, precious love sweet love, and reap blessings a plenty in the year of the Lord - 2020!