Where Is Your First Love?
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. -Isaiah 55:8 NIV
It is hard for us to see and understand God’s plan in our lives and that of the world.
The history of the Bible is simple, it is a story of the fall of man and God’s purpose and plan to redeem us through the blood of Christ on the cross. The story after Jesus’ ascension is how we continuously try to add up, but require the assistance of God to keep us accountable and by doing so, helping to spread the Kingdom of God throughout the world.
More often than not we fail to do the job up to the standards we should.
Our minds are short-sighted and awfully narrow. The term, “God works in mysterious ways” is thrown around too often as an excuse for something bad happening or when we do not have the answer that someone is looking for. Though the saying has a much deeper meaning.
We do not see how God works because our thoughts are not God’s thoughts, nor are our ways His ways. Take a moment to think about this historically. God has always and will always be one step ahead of us when it comes to preserving and protecting the gospel message through our inadequacies.
The Old Testament scrolls including that of Isaiah were hidden for millennia in a Bedouin cave and only found once Israel had control of the land once again. The preservation and protection of such an important work and the historical significance this holds to our faith is more than we realize. It shows the unchanging and perfect will of God through the prophet Isaiah. To read chapter 53 and be in awe of how God planned for the coming of Jesus Christ is now much harder to explain away.
Finding out how God preserved everything when we come to heaven will be mind-blowing. In the meantime, God has to protect His message from our mistakes to follow Him completely.
There are numerous instances in the centuries following Jesus’ resurrection where the Church made mistakes and started incorporating heretical practices. When remittances were being charged to pay for someone’s way to heaven, God raised up Martin Luther to put the Church back on track. This caused not only became the seed of the Protestant movement, but it also required the Catholic church to rescind their practices.
Philip Yancey writes in his book, Finding God in Unexpected Places, about how the church ran away when the inner-city neighborhoods in the 50s and 60s as they started to increase with African-Americans. In the city of Atlanta, for example, this became a common theme as churches and Christians fled to the suburbs instead of embracing the change. The challenge wasn’t met by Christians to serve the greater Church. God had other plans in place as He looked to the future generations and those who would carry the Word to those in need. God was one step ahead and the “Jesus Movement” broke out in the 70s in which you could see an outpouring of God’s spirit to those who would go and serve.
The colonization of the continent of Africa came with some horrible events that led to slavery and stealing of resources. But it also opened the door for missionaries to preach the gospel message in these countries around the continent. When Christianity began to decline in Europe, the revitalization of faith came through the immigrants that had ties to these countries such as the UK, the Netherlands, France, and Spain. They are bringing back a spirit of faith to these countries who have lost their ways.
God always watches over the church and keeps us accountable to the faith that saves and the Truth of Scripture. I am not only speaking to this, but also to keep our hearts humble and willing to serve and follow our Lord and Savior.
The first thing that changes us is not the Truth about God, but our hearts for the Truth.
Think of it like becoming a Pharisee who knew the truth, but corrupted it for their own benefit and couldn’t see Jesus as God incarnate. Jesus says to them, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.” (Matthew 23:15 NIV).
The Pharisees and teachers of the law would spend time to teach someone laws and practices that fit their thinking rather than teaching them to walk humbly with their God (Micah 6:8). How did this turn out? They made Saul(Paul) and he had a stronger passion than anyone in killing and dragging Christians to jail. When you are blind to your own faults, your heart becomes like stone.
We, as humans, can easily walk astray and lose our first love. We need to heed the warning that God gave the church in Ephesus. “Yet, I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.” (Revelation 2:4-5b NIV)
All of the examples above were times that Christians forgot their purpose and their first love. Of course, there were believing and humble Christians who have lived throughout the centuries, but the overall church leaders did not teach this faith to the next generation as well as they should. Satan came in and corrupted the Church. We have to be careful that we do not fall into this same trap.
How are you, or we as a whole, teaching the next generation of believers to serve God?
Do we teach them the lessons of history when the church went astray? (see point one)
Do we live by example, to see the needs around us instead of running away? (see point two)
Do we let our faith die out in the countries we live in? (see point three)
As we are living in a society that has strong influences of post-modernism, it is necessary to raise up Christians with a strong Biblical background and a spirit of believing faith. We have to be careful not to fall away in how we teach and share this faith. The point is to SAVE others, not to fight them off.
Do not forget that the younger generations share a passion for God that we can use, and the older generations need to be reminded of this while also teaching the goodness of God and the importance of Scripture.
Do not forget your first love; do not forget why you believe and follow Jesus.
We have to live with a heart ready to serve and preach the good news. Yes, God is one step ahead of us in all things, but we also cannot let this be an excuse to how we live out our lives in serving our Lord.
Live on Mission
Stefan Johnsson is the author of Breaking Barriers an encouragement and guide to reach your neighbors as our culture grows more and more diverse.
