Our FIRST Love

By: Mae Archila

Monday, April 14, 2025

“Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love” Revelation 2:4 (NLT)

Who is your first love, and what is your relationship with them? Is it a close friend? Is it a family member? For Christ followers, the Lord must be our first love, and we must have a close, personal relationship with Him. God desires a connection with us that is so deep and strong, the word friendship doesn't fully describe it. He created us for intimacy, and He does that by revealing Himself to us daily. As God unveils His love for us, we form an intimate, lifelong, permanent connection with Him.

Due to our fifty-two years of marriage, Oscar and I know each other pretty well. Revealing our true love for each other helped our marriage navigate through difficulty and pain as well as happiness and peace. On our anniversary, we love to remember how things were when we first fell in love. You might say back then, we were crazy for each other. We hated to ever say goodbye, and we couldn’t wait for our next date. We spent countless hours talking, sharing, and enjoying our time together, reflecting on our love.

As precious as these memories are, they don't come close to the love we felt when we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior. When you first met Jesus, do you remember the intense devotion, joy, and commitment you felt? You loved God with all your being, and you couldn’t get enough of Him, right? God still wants that type of love; He wants to be your first love!

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment." Matthew 22:37-38

Hold that intense devotion and joy for the Lord tightly. Don't let your love for God decline like the church in Ephesus did. The way we "hold on" is by putting effort into our relationship with God. Read His Word. Pray (talk) to God on a regular basis. God won’t abandon us if we don't abandon Him! Attend church and join a small group. Being around other believers helps us fan the flame of our first love. If you're in a spiritual dry spell, return to your first love. He is the One who has been faithful through the years. With repentant hearts, let's all come to God's throne of grace and mercy, and bow down before our first love. He's patiently waiting for our return!

Nothing can separate us from God's love, and His Word reminds us; We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19