Revelation 2:4(NIV) Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.
The word love, in this verse is the Greek word agape. The word agape is filled with deep emotion and meaning. Agape occurs when an individual sees, recognises, understands, and appreciates the value of an object or a person, causing him to behold this object or person in great esteem, awe, admiration, wonder, and sincere appreciation. This love is so strong that it is irresistible. This love knows no limits or boundaries in how far, wide, high, and deep it will go. Essentially, agape love is the highest, finest, and most noble form of love. From this scripture, it is clear this love that always existed before, does not exist anymore. So many times, we can put other things before God. We put our programmes, busy schedules, and worries before God. Instead of making God our first love, we put other things above and before Him.
Jeremiah 2:5(ESV) Thus says the LORD: “What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?
We should turn back to our first love. 1 John 4:19(ESV) We love because he first loved us.
Remember – We are reminded of where we came from. There was a time when God was our first love, but we traded it for our desires and achievements. Suddenly God is not our first love anymore. Revelation 2:5 (NKJV) Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place – unless you repent.
Repent – We must return to God as our first love. We must repent and make God our priority in our relationship, finances, time and even in difficult times. Sometimes we spend so much time and effort on our worries and troubles and forget that He is the One that wants us to bring it to Him. He wants to take care of us. Hebrews 4:16(KJV) Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Return – From the conviction that comes from realising where you once stood, repent. You have left Jerusalem for Egypt, the Promised Land for Canaan. God calls us to return to where we once fell. Jude 1:21(NKJV) keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Today, return to your first love, make God the number one priority in your life, and He will take care of you.
I conclude with 2 Corinthians 13:5-9(MSG) Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it. I hope the test won’t show that we have failed. But if it comes to that, we’d rather the test showed our failure than yours. We’re rooting for the truth to win out in you. We couldn’t possibly do otherwise.” We don’t just put up with our limitations; we celebrate them, and then go on to celebrate every strength, every triumph of the truth in you. We pray hard that it will all come together in your lives.