Wednesday, January 15, 2014
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Our friend, Kathy, has walked to get around most of her life. Recently she started floating. Yeah, she got the glow, a new bounce in her voice when she answers the phone, a new confidence. Kathy's more alive than we've ever seen her. Now, what magic could bring about all these wonders? If you haven't guessed, you've been away too long. She's in love! She's in her twenties, and this is her first really big romance. It might be her lifelong romance. It's pretty exciting to watch.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Original Love."
Well, there is nothing quite so beautiful as original love. God thinks so. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Revelation 2. God is talking to a powerhouse group of believers. He says in verse 2, "I know your deeds. I know your hard work. I know your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men. You've tested those who claimed to be apostles but are not; you've found them false. You've persevered. You've endured hardship for My name and have not grown weary."
Man, these are believers who were doing a lot of things right, and maybe they describe you: working hard for the Lord, staying true when others are wandering, taking a stand against false teaching, biblically loyal, enduring hardships for Jesus. These folks are going to get the Church of the Year award, right? No! They're missing what Jesus valued most.
Listen to Revelation 2:4, "Yet I hold this against you; you have forsaken your first love.Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place." Jesus says, "You've fallen! You don't love Me like you used to." You've got the right theology, the right lifestyle, the right activities, but that's not the height. The height was when you loved Him more with original love.
Could Jesus be saying that to you right now? I mean, so much is right in your life, and I'm grateful for that. But the big thing isn't right. You don't love Me like you used to. See, first love takes on flesh and blood as I watch it come alive in Kathy's romance. First love isn't cerebral; it's emotional. Do you have deep feelings for Jesus, or has the passion of your love grown cold? I want to be more moved by Jesus; more moved by what He did for me on the cross than I've ever been in my life.
And Kathy's original love is expectant. She looks forward to each new day of being with, or talking with, and going places with the man she loves. That's how a Jesus lover looks at his day or her day; being with Him, talking with Jesus in the many experiences of this day. And I'm watching in Kathy a love that's buoyant. You know, no problem seems big enough to sink her now because of a love that's bigger than all that. Well, those who deeply love Jesus experience a similar buoyancy. Jesus is simply so overwhelming to me that nothing else really is.
It's so easy for the first love to die. In our relationship with Jesus, first love gets quenched by the rules, the rat race, the rats, the religiosity, the responsibilities, or sometimes by spiritual adultery when we let something else have the best of our love. Maybe Jesus is calling you back to that love you had when you knew Him a lot less but you loved Him more. It's so easy to lose. Loving Jesus has always begun at the same place. The hymn says, "That old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, has a wondrous attraction for me, where the dear Lamb of God left His glory above to bear it to dark Calvary."
In the middle of all our Christianity, it's easy to forget what it's all about. It's a relationship. It's a love affair with the Lord Jesus. Maybe right now He's got His hands on your shoulders. He's asking you what He asked Peter, "Do you love Me? "Oh, yes, Lord, if ever I loved You, my Jesus, 'tis now."