Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Keeping first things first”
Our Bible verse for today: “But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.” Revelation 2:4-5 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Return to your first love.”
I love spending time with new Christians; their enthusiasm and sense of wonder is so encouraging and infectious. The Holy Spirit is at work in their lives, the Bible has come alive to them, there seem to be new spiritual revelations coming to them faster than they can take them in, and they have all the wonder and joy of a kid on Christmas morning.
I remember what that was like. You probably do too. Those early days when we were new in the faith were times of eager discovery. I felt like I had wasted most of my life up to that point and I was eager to make up for it – I couldn’t stop reading the Bible and I wanted to be in church every time the doors were opened.
But like many Christians, in time the sense of enthusiasm, wonder, and discovery started to fade. I found the practice of my faith starting to become a matter of routine and consequently, a bit dull. I probably would not have described it as having lost my first love, but evidently that is how Jesus would describe it.
Jesus spoke the words of Revelation 2:4-5 to the church in Ephesus. They were Christians. But they had allowed the cares of life and the busyness of daily living to blunt their sensitivity to the things of the Spirit. Their awareness of and their appreciation for the awe and wonder and discovery that should be the norm for Christian living had grown dim and dull.
We need to guard against this. We must keep first things first. Jesus must remain the most important person in our lives. Caring for our relationship with Him must be the most important thing we do every day. Prayer and Bible reading first thing in the morning are more important than that extra 30 minutes of sleep. Meeting with your church family and fully participating in the life of your church is more important than recreation or hobbies or whatever else you might be tempted to do with that time instead.
Like any relationship, our relationship with the Lord will grow stale and weak through neglect. I encourage you to keep Him first in all things. And if He has slipped from that position in your life, the I urge you to return to your first love – your most important love.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 