Returning to Your First Loveনমুনা

Jesus Calls Us to Return to Our First Love

When we have lost our earlier passion for the Lord, or have never known it, will we respond to Jesus’ appeal to first love? A thousand things will keep us convinced to choose the path of just settling in and justifying any diminished fervency, stunted affection, or cautionary distance. Yet the light in the doorway beckons. There is another way. It’s the way to life and openhearted trust. He would not have asked it of us if He did not have full provisions of grace ready to give flight to our voluntary choice.

Jesus entreats us to walk willingly through the door and to follow Him on the journey. He invites us to embrace the humility that trusts, even when we don’t see the possibility. His Word is true and does not lie. His commands are not burdensome when the grace of God is the strength of our lives.

Keeping first love for Jesus is possible. And when it gets sidelined or grows dim, renewed, burning passion is the future of all who are willing to heed His voice and respond to His grace.

Let us follow the light of His Word, the truth that confronts our untruths, and embrace the steps He has laid out before us until our hearts are no longer deadweight but flowing and alive—until we burn with His passion for us and our responsive passion for Him. This is the exchange He gave His life to purchase and to receive from our willing hearts.

As we take each step forward, the voice of the One who both ignites and rekindles the human heart—the One who spoke light into darkness in the beginning—now speaks over our limp and dwindled love, “Heart, soul, mind, and strength—come alive!”

Questions to Ponder: How passionate is your current love for Jesus? Do you feel His tug on your heart, drawing you deeper in your walk with Him? What might your response to that calling look like?