His Heart, My Home

Recently, Holy Spirit began directing my attention to the phrase “first love”.

Who do you think of when you think of your “first love”? Do you think of that cute little girl or that handsome boy that sat next to you in the elementary school?

You probably thought they were not only your first love, but your forever love. Right? That is, until your “crush” crushed your heart.

Ouch! I just thought of Mary Nell Sanders. The memory is still painful to this day. I sat directly behind Mary Nell in Mrs. Walter’s fourth-grade class. I thought Mary Nell was movie-star gorgeous, and wanted to get her attention, so I cunningly crafted a way to let her know how much I cared.

I chewed a small piece of paper until it was nice and wet, then put it into a straw and blew the spit-wad towards my true love. Bullseye! The spittle-soaked white paper lodged right in the back of Mary Nell’s black hair!

I was pretty proud of my marksmanship, especially when the boys all around me began to compliment me on being such a great sharpshooter. Mary Nell didn’t notice the spitwad lodged in her hair, but her friend who sat beside her did, and quickly told Mary Nell that “Joey” Townsend was the culprit. My self-congratulatory jubilation at hitting my target instantly turned into panic as I saw Mrs. Walters, who having quickly sized up the situation, was now charging like a wounded bull moose, straight back to my desk… with a murderous metal ruler in her hand!

Not even a trial or a chance to plea-bargain! Just brutally swift punishment! Surely my rights were being flagrantly violated! What about “innocent until proven guilty”? I don’t know which hurt worse, the searing pain that throbbed through my hand from the three savage whacks from Mrs. Walters, or the smug smile on Mary Nell’s face, as she witnessed my tender heart, once filled with innocent love, now completely and cruelly crushed!

I think it’s time we get back to something more important and less  painful than those memories of Mrs. Walter’s wrath. I only hope I don’t have Mary Nell nightmares tonight!

Where were we? “First love”… Of course, I knew the phrase was in the Bible, but I couldn’t quite grasp what the Lord wanted me to understand about it. So I began to study the subject and was thoroughly amazed by what I found.

This is what I want to share with you in today’s post. So, let’s begin.

John, the Apostle, had been exiled to the Isle of Patmos, off the coast of modern-day Turkey. While there, John had a vision of the glorified Lord Jesus, which inspired him to write the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible.

Jesus instructed John to write letters to the seven churches in Asia. We will begin our study today with the letter Jesus dictated to the church in Ephesus.

¹ “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands:  ² I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; ³ and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. ⁴ Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.‘ (Revelation 2:1-4) Italics mine for emphasis.

I had a lot of questions about this passage:
What exactly is our “first love”? What does it mean to lose it? How do we get it back?

I read commentaries which described the words of Jesus as “a strong rebuke” and insisting He was “scolding” a “loveless church”.

But that just didn’t seem like the gracious, patient, and loving Savior I know.

I remembered the Apostle Paul in his letter to the same church, commended the Ephesian Christians for their love and faith, and prayed that they would come to know and experience God’s unlimited, unfailing, unconditional love even more.

(*Please read Ephesians 1:15 and 3:14-21)

So I did a deep dive study on the individual Greek words used in Verse 4. Please stay with me now, because I believe Holy Spirit wants to give you a fresh revelation of the Father’s consuming love.

The word translated as “against” in Verse 4 is the Greek preposition “kata”. This word nearly always means, “a downward movement; a descent from a higher to a lower place.”

And that is also the meaning of “kata” here in Verse 4. That’s why Jesus says in the very next verse (Verse 5) “Remember therefore from where you have fallen.”

It is unfortunate that the King James Bible translators rendered “kata” as “against”, meaning “opposed to”. Because Jesus is not opposed to us! He is not against us in any way!

Let me shout it from the rooftops, “God is FOR us, so who can be “AGAINST” us?
(Romans 8:31)

The word “kata” also has a secondary meaning of “concerning, or in regards to”. More on that shortly.

Finally, we read the words “… you have left your first love.”

The word translated as “left” is the Greek word “aphiemi”. Some have inaccurately translated this word as “abandoned” but it actually means, “to become inattentive to; to temporarily let go of; to lay something aside because of distractions.”

This makes sense to me. Let’s imagine I lay my car keys aside somewhere in a moment of distracted inattention. That doesn’t mean I’ve :abandoned” my car, does it? It just means that I need to refocus and reconnect with my keys!

Now we have all these Greek-word puzzle pieces, so let’s put it together!

What was Jesus really saying to the church at Ephesus in John’s day, and what is He undoubtedly also saying to busy, distracted Christians in our day?

I believe the Lord would offer us His loving encouragement rather than a scolding, and a rap on the knuckles with a metal ruler!

I believe Jesus would say to us:

“I love you, and I want you to know my love in a greater measure than ever before. I want you to grow and increase in the experience of my love. I want you to come up higher, taking your place beside me as my Bride.”

“But I’m concerned about you. You’re going in the wrong direction, downwards, rather than upwards, decreasing rather than increasing. The reason for the downward trajectory is this: you’re just not as attentive to me as you once were. You’re letting the cares, distractions, and busy-ness of life steal the one thing that is vitally important for your health, happiness, and wholeness, time with me. You’re acting just like Mary’s stressed-out sister, Martha. I want you to stop for a while, listen to my heart, relearn of my love for you, and love me in return.”

“Beloved, I’m concerned. You’re starting to slip. Now is the time to get a grip and cling to me in love and faith again.”

Let’s keep it real. All of us, at one time or another, have gotten our life-priorities out of order, and let our devotion to Jesus slip downwards a notch or two.

He encourages us to remember and reflect on His measureless, reckless, “all-in” love for us, and to repent, which simply means to turn around and go in a different direction, while renewing our commitment to Him. (Revelation 2:5)

Think about a married couple who have been facing challenges in their relationship. They agree to get away for the weekend. They enjoy a candle-light dinner, and a hand-in-hand stroll along the moon-lit sea shore as they open and share their hearts with each other. Their passion and love for each other is rekindled, perhaps even inspiring them to spontaneously renew their wedding vows.

Romantically, both the husband and the wife need to repair and readjust their relationship. Spiritually, however, Jesus loves us with a perfect love, which I call “love beyond love”. So if our relationship with Him needs renewal, the responsibility is ours, not His. And if we will ask, Holy Spirit will bring us back to our first love, even bringing us beyond our earlier encounters into a deeper, fuller, more intimate experience of His love.

On a practical level, this is how I “remind myself to remember” the awesome love my Savior demonstrated, giving Himself to be bruised, pierced, crushed, and cut off from the Father’s life for me. Whenever I sense that I’m not walking in close proximity to my Shepherd, I take some time to receive communion, because I know that it will remind me of His unconditional love for me and return me to my first love for Him.

²³ “… the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; ²⁴ and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”  ²⁵ In the same manner, He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
(I Corinthians 11:23-25)

As we honor His sacrifice in communion, we remember, reflect upon, repent, and renew our vows of loyalty and love to the One who is the Lover of our souls! Our first love is destined to be our eternal love… forever!

In closing, I pray for you, as Paul prayed for the church of Ephesus, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19)

Did you find this post helpful? If so, let me know by liking or posting a comment  below. Also, please share it with others. Let’s all keep growing and going for Jesus!