When a couple falls in love, there is a lot of romance. They go out to dinner. He gives her flowers. She brags about him to her friends. He cannot wait to see her after work.
The romance continues. They get married. Now the dates are even better. They go everywhere together, and then, a transformation slowly unfolds. He has stay at work a little longer, and misses the planned Friday night date. Money is spent before it is received, so the flowers are out of the question for one week, and then, the next week.
Marriage can be difficult, and instead of bragging about her husband to her friends, she finds herself complaining about his faults to them. Slowly, over time, the relationship is no longer what it once was. Is the love still there? Many times, there is still love; it just got crowded out by things that have been given a higher priority than they should have.
Often a relationship between a person and the Lord deteriorates in a similar manner. At first, they are so excited about being saved and forgiven of all their sins. They attend church every time the doors are opened: Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. Every day they start out with a prayer time with the Lord and read their Bibles faithfully. They try to tell others about the Lord and how they too can be saved from a burning hell.
However, sometimes a transformation in their love life with the Lord slowly occurs. At the time, their reason for not having time in the morning for prayer time and Bible reading seemed legitimate.
Perhaps, it was also a legitimate reason why they could not attend church on Sunday. Maybe even sickness caused them to stay home from church on Sunday.
Perhaps the reason for stopping spiritual things was too much familiarity — when doing things repetitively, sometimes a person loses interest in doing them. Soon, however, the reasons changed to, “I have too many things to do today to go to church.”
Sometimes, to cover up for their backsliding away from the Lord, other reasons surface like, “I don’t get anything out of reading my Bible every time, so why do it?”, or “No one talks to me at church, so why go?”
No matter how it happens, too many find themselves further away from God than they ever would have imagined they would be. They find themselves without the fervor, excitement, and love for the Lord and the things of God they once had. Are they out love with their Saviour?
Many times they are not out of love with their Saviour; it is just because too many things got a higher priority than they deserved. They find themselves in the same position that the early church of Ephesus found itself when John had to write to them and tell them, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love (Revelation 2:4). ” Their love for God had not moved at all; it was where they had left it. They just needed to go back where they had left it, and pick up where they left off.
Here are some things that can be done to help one get back the love for Christ they once had:
- Admit to God what you have done wrong and ask Him to forgive you. He knows where you went amiss. He just wants you to humble yourself and admit what you did wrong. A humbled heart often keeps one from returning to his old mistakes. The principle of II Chronicles 7:14 , although promised to Israel, can be applied to one’s own spiritual relationship with the Lord, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
- Go back to doing what God has already convicted you about. If He has tugged at your heartstrings to restart your daily prayer life, then that would be a good place to start. If you are convicted about not going to church, drop everything to be there the next time its doors are open.
- Try to go back spiritually to the place you were when God was important to you. Do now what you did then. If you were closest to Him when you lived by faith, do the same now.“Well, it’s not that easy to do that now. I have responsibilities. I have bills,” some justify.“Are you happy with where you are spiritually now?”“Well, no”
“Well, maybe you need to pay the price to get back to the place you once were. God may never have wanted you to get in the place you are now, anyway. It was your decision, and look where it got you. It would be well worth it to pay the price, whatever it is, to get back to where you need to be!”
Obey what He shows you to do now. If a message from the pulpit stirs you to do change something, change it! (Of course, if you miss church, you’ll miss what God had for you that day!) If a scripture convicts you of a sin, confess it and forsake it. If a heart tugging compels you to do something for the Lord, do it!
Do all you did before, and more, when you had “your first love” with the Lord. He has not gone anywhere. He is still in the same place you left Him. Revitalize your relationship with the Lord. He certainly will forgive you, and you can start all over again — this time better!
“And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” Deuteronomy 6:5 Also: Mark 12:30, I John 4:19
Prayer and reading the Word of God are probably 2 of the most important things we can do to keep from losing our “first love”. Since we can make them part of our daily routine and habits, we can resolve to do them even when we don’t really feel like it. By doing those things while “in the valley”, the odds that we hang on until we make it out greatly increases.
Thanks for a great year of devotions Bro Brinkworth.
Whether one keeps God first or last one still has bills and such to tend to . So the point it why forsake God as either way life goes on .