First Love

Some think being a Christian is all about following a bunch of rules. If we ponder on it…..in a way, there are rules to follow. Just that’s not all there is to being a follower of Christ.

I can see sinful behavior a mile away. Maybe you can too. It seems as if we train ourselves to “be good”! I like to call it legalistic. We put up boundaries that we refuse to step over. Thinking in our heads that we are so good (since we refrain from what we think is over the edge living).

In Revelation 2….the Ephesians are commended for being good. The angel points out that they have followed sound teaching, perservered in opposition, resisted immoral behavior and worked hard to be genuine followers of God. But….one thing that they’d overlooked?

First love.

They had become so good at fighting off bad behavior….but so bad at loving one another (and truly loving God). Isn’t that how we are? We tend to focus on doing every little detail of our Christian walk by the Book. Yet, we find fault in our brother/sister in Christ. And that is probably higher on the “to do” list than anything else God wants from us.

I am reminded.

Lord Jesus,
Help me to love other’s like you do. Show me that I cannot follow any rules or laws that do not include this act of obedience first. I want to return to my first love.
Amen.

Revelation 2:4 “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love”.

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