What is "Your First Love?"

[Truth_love]

SCRIPTURE: 'But I have this against you: you have abandoned the passionate love you had for me at the beginning. Think about how far you have fallen! Repent and do the works of love you did at first. I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place of influence if you do not repent. ' Revelation 2:4-5

LESSON: There is only one thing that the Lord had against the Ephesian Church, but it is a huge one! It is significant because LOVE is the cornerstone of Christianity. The fulfillment of the Law is love (Romans 13.10-14), which requires us to love God with all of our hearts ("You must LOVE the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind, and all of your strength" MARK 12:30) and to love others in the same way that God loves them ("A new commandment I give to you, that you LOVE one another, as I have loved you, that you also LOVE one another" - John 13:34). Any works that are not based in God's love (vertical toward Him and horizontal toward Other Men) are NOT acceptable to Him!

PRAYER: Help us to return to our first love (where we have deviated), and abide there. Amen

 

[Mercy Shown]

It is The Father that draws us toward our first love, Jesus Christ. As we are drawn nearer self becomes more and more agitated and resistant. because God is anathema to it. If we abandon ourselves to not resist God He will become the author and finisher of our faith. I find so many of the reasons I used to come to theology forums are no longer valid. I used to come to argue, but now all of that seems so trivial in light of the Love the Father has bestowed on me that I should be called a son of God.