First Love

Oftentimes I feel that we in the Church fall short in this great essential truth that the Word of God sets before us: loving God and loving one another. You might think, “Well, what could make you say that?” I would answer, "By the things that we say, the things that we do, and by our attitudes towards one another." We are not called to function as the world functions. We are not recreated in Christ Jesus to think as the world thinks, to behave as the world behaves, or to treat one another as though we live in a corporate world. If you live and work in the corporate world, you’re still called, commanded, ordained, and anointed to live and act differently. You can’t separate secular from spiritual. Your work is spiritual.

Jesus says, “Love Me like you did when you were first saved. You were full of passion and excitement! You desired to spend time with Me, and you loved me with all of your heart, and it showed!" So He says, “Have a change of heart: repent. Change the direction of your life; do the first works  . . . or else (uh oh, that sounds threatening) . . . I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place." In other words, I’ll remove the light from your midst; I’ll remove the anointing from your life.

How can a man or woman in ministry who has walked in such a great anointing for a lengthy time stumble and fall into sin? It is the result, I’m convinced, of leaving their first love. How is it that those in the Body can be so competitive? I’m telling you that sometimes I get around Christians in ministry, and I might as well be around a bunch of lawyers, bankers, etc. They are competitive and territorial, and this is mine and those are mine, etc. I am so glad that I’m just an undershepherd. Ain’t none of you “mine.” You don’t belong to me. You’re not, “my sheep.” It doesn’t mean that I don’t love you, but it does mean that I don’t own you.

Christians become control freaks! What is that the result of? Leaving their first love. Having commended and acknowledged so many good things about the believers in the Ephesian church, Jesus said, “I have this one thing against you.”

⁴ Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”

“Unless you repent,” means, “have a change of heart, mind, and attitude.” What He’s really saying is, “Come back to Me. Love Me like you did in the very beginning.” It’s much like a marriage relationship. As the years go by, a couple either falls more in love or less in love. It rarely remains neutral.

Even as Christians, we can have the appearance that we’re doing something great, but things can be vastly different than how it looks. Sometimes we’re more concerned about how things appear to be than how they actually are. That’s why it’s possible to get up and preach or minister in any capacity and have all kinds of mess in one’s heart or life, and people for the most part wouldn’t even know! There are some in public places that would say, “What business is it for anyone to know? What difference does it make?”

Many times we’re more concerned how we appear to other people than how things really are in the eyes of God (who can look upon our hearts and read our thoughts). Then the Scripture says, “How is it that you can say you love God but hate your brother?” Okay, let’s change the word, “hate.” It may not necessarily mean, “hate and want to kill,” but it can also mean, “despise, have contempt for, be jealous of, or be envious of.” How can you say you love God and be in that state? Yet, we could ask any Christian, “Do you love God?” and we’d hear, “Oh yes, hallelujah, brother, I love God,” and  still be the biggest gossiper in the church or the community.

I like one of the things that I read recently: “If people are going to gossip to you, then they’re gonna gossip about you to somebody else.” When people come and start dumping on you, just look at them, point to your ear, and say, “What is this? This is an ear, not a garbage can, so take your trash somewhere else.”

We deceive ourselves oftentimes! How do you show your love for God? I believe first and foremost it’s by showing love towards other people, because if I’m not showing love towards other people, then I deceive myself by thinking that I love God. That also means that I have probably fallen from my first love. Scripture doesn’t say, “Love people first,” it says to, “Love God first.” Why is that important? Because we are called to love one another with the love of God. We’re told to love each other even as God loves us! How can we love other people as God loves us if we don’t truly love God?

Grace and Peace,

PG