I am going to be honest with you, my blog friends...I know that I don't love the Lord as I should, and I have realized that even more lately! Oh, how much He loves me, but what love have I given Him back? Then, I begin to think about the things of the Lord...do I really love them? Sure, I love to hear good Christian music, good preaching, and to fellowship with fellow Christians...but there is a difference! Some of you are married, courting, you know what it is like to be in love, right? With all your might, you want to find out what pleases that person, what makes them smile, what they love to do, what they love to eat, anything and everything about them, down to what they dislike...you want to be with them 24/7! You love them, adore them, you can't get enough of them...so that should be the way we are about Jesus our Lord and Saviour!
Oh, but being honest again, I have failed so utterly in my love for the Lord...I have been just existing...just living with Him, does that make sense? Like a married couple, who go their separate ways everyday, barely talking, not one ounce of affection, tolerating each other...they're married, yes, but there is no relationship...it is dying by the minute. We as Christians can be that way...I believe that once we trust Christ as our Saviour we are saved always...our salvation is not based on me, myself, and I, but on my unchanging Lord! Praise the Lord for that! But just like that couple living together, you know that they are unhappy with their life...the same for a Christian whose relationship with their Father is dying...
Revelation 2:1-5 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Here were some Christians. They were faithful to the house of God, faithful in serving the Lord, hated evil and sin, and even had not fainted in the day of adversity, but the Lord had something against them! They had left their first Love, Jesus...they were doing all the right things on the outside, church, service, etc., but perhaps, instead of love that motivated them, duty had taken the place...how sad!
Yes, we must see our duty to serve Him and live for Him, but without loving the Lord, according to this verse, our Lord sees it as sin
Revelation 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Think a minute...how were you when you were first saved? You were filled with such joy and love for the Lord because of all that He had done to save you and that He had actually saved you! Remember...take time to remember the last time you were filled with such love and joy of the Lord...if its been so long, start looking at what He has done for you! How good is He to you! Then, Repent! Ask the Lord to forgive you for your cold heart, your lack of love for Him! Then, do the first works! I looked this up, and everyone said get back to doing those things for the Lord to show Him how much you love Him! When we have a right love for our Lord, then our service will not be out of duty, but out of love! There will be more joy, for sure! Because it so wonderful to make someone you love happy, it makes you happy!
We do have a warning here, my friends: or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. I was reading about the church of Ephesus...according to history, there was never any signs that they repented, and the church went even more down hill...until there was no "real" church...they lost their usefulness! Other false religions took over the region, they lost their witness! They lost their testimony! Yes, they were saved, but what a life? An empty Christian life!
Oh, I am determined that I do not want to end up like this church, these believers! We are commanded to:
Deuteronomy 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Let's get busy loving the Lord!
1 comment:
We are having a youth rally this week, and just last night the preacher was talking about fighting to do right, fighting for the word of God etc. I was just thinking about the very thing you posted about: we have fallen away from our first love and we don't fight for anything any more. If wer are tired we don't go to church, if the kids have a little sniffle, it's an excuse to not go and the seperation just keeps going and we don't fight for anything that's right, because we are too far from our first love. Good post.
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