When I leave my first love, it means
that I have gone somewhere else. If you leave one place, it signifies
that you’ve entered another. From a spiritual standpoint, any time I
leave my first love to go somewhere else, I should have just stayed
home.
When I have left my first love, it
means that I have chosen, willfully, to go in another direction. I am
now going my way and am doing what I want to do. I’m going to do as I
choose; I’m going to do what I think is best. I weigh my options and do
what’s best for me instead of first consulting the Highest Authority,
the Lord Jesus Christ. “What would You have me to do”? Oftentimes, what
He would want me to do does not look exactly like what I wanted to do.
In fact, it can be in direct opposition. What Jesus wants me to do can
sometimes seem to make no sense at all.
In that moment of decision, what will I
choose to do? Will I choose what looks best, most expedient, or most
profitable . . . or will I choose to follow the lead of my first love? I
always come out on top when I have followed God! It may take a little
longer to get there by persevering, but it isn’t about “getting rich
quick.” This is about obeying the Lord, following my first love, staying
connected to Him, and doing what He wills and not what I want to do.
Let me make this very clear. He’ll let
you do what you want to do. Just because you did it, don’t think you
did the will of God. In making that judgment, the first principle to be
applied is, “How does it line up with the Word?” If it is clearly NOT in
alignment, then it is NOT the will of God. Let’s get that principle
firmly established. The writer of Hebrews said that we ought to have our
senses exercised in order to be able to discern what is good and what
is evil.
We know that when we go our own way
and make our own decisions without consulting the Lord that it comes
back to bite us, and then we can’t figure out why things aren’t going
well. Maybe it’s because we’ve wandered from our first love and have
gone some other way.
Let’s look at Ephesians 4:11-15. “And He Himself gave some to be
apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and
teachers.” What is the purpose of that five-fold ministry gift mix? It’s
for, “the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ.” That is definitely another topic that I
could delve into, but won’t at this time.
The whole purpose of the five-fold
ministry is for equipping the saints for doing the work. In other words,
the saints are supposed to be doing the work of the ministry, right?
The apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers have been
given to the church to equip believers to do the work of the ministry,
not to simply make churches bigger and collect more money! No, the
purpose is to equip, train, teach, and give individuals the equipment
they need to serve. As I’ve said, that’s a whole other message, but
listen: if I don’t help you succeed in being what God has called you to
be, then I have not done what I’m supposed to be doing! The point is
that we have a place wherein we can become equipped, then WE (meaning
you and I), are able to do the work of the ministry.
“For the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till
we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son
of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness
of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children,
tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the
trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ.”
We are continually being brought to
completion/maturity. We are ALL involved in this process, and God is
bringing us to this point through the knowledge of His Son and in the
unity of faith until we are all being perfected in Christ-likeness.
Let us make a personal goal of
examining our hearts and giving careful thought as to how much
attention, deference, and obedience we give to our first love, and this
will be very telling as to what place we give Him in our lives.
Grace and peace,
PG
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