My First Love
Rev 2:4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.(ESV)
Rev 2:4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. (NIV)
Rev 2:4 But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. (NASB)
Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. (KJV)
I was reading Victory Over Darkness by Neil Anderson today and was digesting his explanation of faith etc. I had read this book several years ago and decided to re-read it. In my thoughts I was contemplating God and his love for us, specifically me.
I often have to be reminded that He loves me 24/7 for all eternity. He loves me when I am being unlovable. He loves me when I forget or choose to not love Him back. Consistent, absolute, unyielding, and eternal. My thoughts on this, after being convicted for my shortcomings in the reciprocation, wandered to the above passage. I wanted to make sure I was reading it correctly so I looked at a few different versions.
The way I had defined that passage for many years was incorrect but I forgot about my mistake so I revisited it here. You see, it did not make sense to me. I defined the passage as being "my first love." So I looked up the Greek word for "first." The word is proto as in prototype. This word is used to mean chief, primary, first in line. So what was my problem? Well, before Christ in my life, I loved my parents, my family, my extended family, some friends, a girl or 2 (so I thought). Christ was not my first love. Nor was he the first for many including the church in Ephesus
Here comes the duh moment. The first in this passage was not being used chronologically or in order of occurrence. Jesus meant to tell the church in Ephesus and me that they/I had forgotten or turned away from what love has the greatest importance their/my lives. That even with good works, He places a higher importance on love. The love of relationship with Him.
Paul tells us in 1 Cor 13:If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
God is the source of all love and He chooses to love us, unconditionally. He desires that we love Him back in the same manner. He desires that we love one another as well. That love cannot be given without God Himself driving it. So when Jesus accuses us/me of not placing the highest priority on it, the onus to correct our thinking and behavior is strong. The word forgotten used in some versions is not strong enough. In the above versions the words abandoned, forsaken, and left are used. There is no ambiguity. The use of those words mean that they/we/I made the choice to do so. Ouch! I hope...
If you are guilty of this, like me, be convicted. Deeply convicted. But be encouraged as well. I already told you God loves you even when you don't love Him. He has shown you this and you know this; therefore, take a breath, repent, stop allowing things to get between He and you. Don't abandon or forsake Him. He hasn't you.
Rev 2:4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. (NIV)
Rev 2:4 But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. (NASB)
Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. (KJV)
I was reading Victory Over Darkness by Neil Anderson today and was digesting his explanation of faith etc. I had read this book several years ago and decided to re-read it. In my thoughts I was contemplating God and his love for us, specifically me.
I often have to be reminded that He loves me 24/7 for all eternity. He loves me when I am being unlovable. He loves me when I forget or choose to not love Him back. Consistent, absolute, unyielding, and eternal. My thoughts on this, after being convicted for my shortcomings in the reciprocation, wandered to the above passage. I wanted to make sure I was reading it correctly so I looked at a few different versions.
The way I had defined that passage for many years was incorrect but I forgot about my mistake so I revisited it here. You see, it did not make sense to me. I defined the passage as being "my first love." So I looked up the Greek word for "first." The word is proto as in prototype. This word is used to mean chief, primary, first in line. So what was my problem? Well, before Christ in my life, I loved my parents, my family, my extended family, some friends, a girl or 2 (so I thought). Christ was not my first love. Nor was he the first for many including the church in Ephesus
Here comes the duh moment. The first in this passage was not being used chronologically or in order of occurrence. Jesus meant to tell the church in Ephesus and me that they/I had forgotten or turned away from what love has the greatest importance their/my lives. That even with good works, He places a higher importance on love. The love of relationship with Him.
Paul tells us in 1 Cor 13:If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
God is the source of all love and He chooses to love us, unconditionally. He desires that we love Him back in the same manner. He desires that we love one another as well. That love cannot be given without God Himself driving it. So when Jesus accuses us/me of not placing the highest priority on it, the onus to correct our thinking and behavior is strong. The word forgotten used in some versions is not strong enough. In the above versions the words abandoned, forsaken, and left are used. There is no ambiguity. The use of those words mean that they/we/I made the choice to do so. Ouch! I hope...
If you are guilty of this, like me, be convicted. Deeply convicted. But be encouraged as well. I already told you God loves you even when you don't love Him. He has shown you this and you know this; therefore, take a breath, repent, stop allowing things to get between He and you. Don't abandon or forsake Him. He hasn't you.
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