Falling In Love

Scripture:

Rev. 2:4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
Rev. 2:5 Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

Observation:

The church in Ephesus was a good church that worked hard at serving the Lord. The problem was that they were working so hard that they were ignoring their relationship with the Lord. The admonition was to go back to the original relationship and to “do the works you did at first.” I think this is something like falling in love all over again!

Application:

When I think about falling in love I think about meeting my husband, Chuck. Now that I work in the same building where I met him it’s fun to reminisce. I like to tell students right where I met him. I can still see that place where we had our very first conversation and it still makes my heart flutter.

The Scripture reminds the church at Ephesus to do the things that they did at first. What was it like to be in love and what did we do at first? The first priority was to figure out how to see each other and all other activities took second place. We would stay up late talking on the phone every single night! We would send each other little notes and packages. The desire to be in a relationship with this person was so consuming that the rest of life took second place.

When we first fall in love with Jesus it is much the same. We want to be with him day and night. We want to soak in the word and be in fellowship with other believers as much as possible. This change in life is so overwhelming that it does literally make our heart flutter.

Throughout the years of a relationship it’s easy to take one another for granted, assuming that they are always going to be there. As I thought about this scripture today I thought about where Chuck and I find ourselves these days, living in two different cities. It’s kind of a crazy thing, but in many ways it has brought us back to “the works you did at first.” We now text each other all day long — staying in touch throughout the entire day. We have those late night phone calls and we travel long distances just to be together as much as possible. We set aside all that we can to make sure that we get to see one another and my heart flutters just knowing that he will arrive here at 4:29 tomorrow! I love my husband so much more today than I did at first, but that’s because we’ve worked to keep that first love alive.

Putting this into spiritual terms we must think about our relationship with the Lord. He wants us to put aside “things” and focus on that first love. Our passion for the Lord should be more consuming today than it was at first. But this only happens when we go out of our way to be with him and serve him; when we keep in touch with him all day long and spend those late nights or early mornings in long conversation. When we do this then love for him covers the miles and we remain in a deep and loving relationship with him and it’s like falling in love with the Lord all over again!

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for your incredible and overwhelming love.  Amen.