First love

1 Corinthians 13:3 (AMP)

“If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it does me no good at all.”

There is a point in life when we just do things because we want to maintain a status quo and not because we are compelled to do them by the reason of love.

You probably remember the moment when you first encountered Jesus as your savior. Your desire then could have been to love the way he does. Christ is the reason and the force behind all we do. We feel this strongly at the beginning of our Christian journey. We are in love with Jesus and do things out of that place of love. As time goes by, however, we slip into performing out of obligation or to look good to others.

The Book of Revelation warns against abandoning our first love in reference to the church at Ephesus (Rev. 2:3-5).

The church at Ephesus had been doing good works for the gospel, but they had lost the heart behind it, the reason they were working for the gospel in the first place. They had left their first love, and when we do this, no matter how much “good” we’re doing, our attempts are in vain.

Take an opportunity to stop and reflect why we do good. Do we just do it to impress others or it's because of love. Return to that moment you first met Jesus and the passion and desire it stirred in you. No matter how much time has passed since then, no matter what’s transpired, he is still and always will be your first love.

(Adapted from Chris Tomlin song "First love")

God be with you this day and cause a passion in you to love the way He does.