December 27 - Preserve Your First Love

 Read today’s texts first: Revelation 1-4

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

Sometimes we “persevere” but fail to “preserve” our
first-love intimacy with our Saviour and Friend.

It happens in almost all relationships. I’ve had the privilege of counselling many couples before and long after they’ve been married and the challenge we all face is preserving that first love. The romance, the passion, the excitement of being together can dissipate over time. The differences that once attracted us together can later drive us apart.

A similar thing can happen in our relationship with God, but the drift is one-sided. I remember a bumper sticker that asked the right question: “if you feel far from God, guess who moved?” The Revelation asks the same question of seven churches, particularly the church of Ephesus: You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love (2:3,4).  Just like the church of Ephesus, sometimes we “persevere” but fail to “preserve” that openness and intimacy we once enjoyed with our Saviour and Friend.

John reminds the church to “remember from where you have fallen.” I believe he is referring to more than their recent sin of forsaking “their first love.” He is saying that if you always remember where you were before you met Jesus, that He loved you while you were still a sinner (Romans 5:8), you will never stay away from Him. Every day will be another opportunity to appreciate His unconditional love and grace.

Sometimes our persevering can lead to a sense of self-sufficiency and self-righteousness. We forget that every good thing we have is undeserved, and that we can love only because He first loved us (1 John 4:19; Revelation 1:5).  “Lord, everything and everyone I love in my life began with You, my first love!”