Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul”
Our Bible verse for today: “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.” Revelation 2:4 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “Our soul must return to it’s first love.”
Do you remember what it was like shortly after you placed your faith in Jesus? Do you remember how enthused you were, how eager to learn and grow in the Lord? I do. I felt like I had wasted the first thirty-five years of my life and I wanted to make up for all that I had missed. So I read the Bible cover-to-cover twice in my first year as a Christian; I memorized Scripture; I listened only to Christian music; I was in church virtually any time the doors were open. And I’ll bet your post-conversion story is similar.
It’s a common story, this passionate pursuit of God shortly after conversion. Our soul is thirsty for God and our growth comes in leaps and bounds. Unfortunately somewhere along the journey many people begin to lose touch with what’s going on inside them. The practice of the Christian faith becomes routine and even dull, our passion for the Lord ebbs, and in time we become lukewarm spiritually. And we know how Jesus feels about that. In Revelation 3:14-16 He says lukewarm spirituality is repulsive to Him to the point that He wants to spit it out of His mouth.
Being mindful of the condition of our soul, and intentionally engaging in soul-care, is essential. Our world is filled with pressures and demands which draw our attention away from the interior life. We are surrounded by seductive distractions which combine to desensitize us spiritually. Further, we’re fooled into believing that a little outward religious activity, such as being relatively faithful to attending a one hour service on Sunday, will suffice in keeping the soul healthy. It just isn’t so. Spiritual health is an inside-out job. It doesn’t happen as a result in engaging in a little outward religious ritual. It occurs only when we intentionally invest the time to be with God in solitude so He can change us on the inside. It will then manifest itself in outward things like corporate worship and acts of service, but it starts on the inside and works its way out.
But here’s the thing: Once we begin experiencing God like that – really experiencing Him – we discover the joy and enthusiasm is returning. That love and passion for the Lord that we had at first – that first love – begins to come back. In that respect our relationship with God is no different than our relationship with any other person. The more you love them, the more time you will want to spend with them. And the more time you spend with them, the more you will learn to love them.
Many of us have lost our first love for the Lord. Oh, the love is still there, sort of. But not like it used to be. We need to return to our first love and we do that by simply spending time with Him.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 