Blog

Yet I have this against you, You have forsaken your first love.  

Revelation 2:4

Remembering Your First Love…

Do you remember your first love?  Who is your first love?  Is Jesus your first love?  Is Christmas special because of Jesus or because of the thing we have made it into?

Can you imagine Jesus telling you that you have forsaken Him, your First Love?  It would break my heart.  This morning this verse jumped out to me during my quiet time and I have to admit it was convicting.  I think sometimes that must be how God feels during Christmas.  Maybe it’s just me, but Christmas seems to have gotten off course somewhere.

Jesus told the church in Ephesus in the book of Revelation that they had left their first love.

Before He said this, He commended them for their hard work and perseverance.  Second, He told them He knew they did not tolerate wicked men and tested those claiming to be apostles and found them false.  Then, He went on to say they persevered through hardships for Christ’s name and did not grow weary.

Those are all great things.  Yet, they had one of most appalling claims against them out of all of the seven churches.  They had left their first love, Jesus!  He is the ONLY thing that matters.  Without Him there is nothing else.

They were so busy doing great things, they forgot about their relationship with Jesus Christ.  Jesus told them to remember where they had started and repent.  Repent means to turn around and go the other way.  They needed to completely change what they were doing.

That is exactly what we need to do.  

Completely change how we do Christmas. It has gotten out of control.  Most people don’t need any of the stuff we buy but they do need Jesus.  Sometimes we don’t even talk about Jesus at all when we get together and it is His day for goodness sakes!  It’s supposed to be ALL about Him.

God never meant for Christmas to be what we have made it into.

He sent His Son as a gift to us so that by believing in Jesus we could have a relationship with God Himself, the greatest gift of all.  However, now we are so busy running around to find the perfect gift or worse, sitting on our computers for hours, we neglect the most important part of Christmas, Jesus.

I have to admit I am guilty of this.  Are you?  We can change things.  It can start with us.  Let’s stop the madness.  Can we find a way to remember our First Love and make Christmas about Jesus again?

Quiet time, alone time with God, is almost non-existent during Christmas.  In fact, ANY quiet time is hard to find.  It is almost like the enemy uses this gift God gave us against us to increase stress and drive us in to debt.

Give yourself the most important gift this season, time to be still, repent, and remember your first love.  

Let yourself take a break.  Nothing is more important to you or to your family and loved ones than the hope, peace, joy and love that can only be found in time alone with your First Love.  Find a way to share Him with your family and friends.

You have Jesus’ permission to leave the elf on the shelf and grab your Bible instead. 

Mark 6:31 (NIV) 

…he (Jesus) said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

Turns out we DON’T HAVE to work so hard.  Breathe.  You will find peace on earth and goodwill toward men when you get alone, get quiet, and remember your First Love.  Those who love us will understand if our life isn’t Pinterest worthy; nobody’s life really is anyway.

Jesus is waiting…

Remember your First Love.  

Merry Christmas sweet friend.

Love,

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn some money at no additional cost to you, if you click on the links I provide. Read the full dislcaimer.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2019 Shawna Novak