“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” (Rev. 2:4)
There is an opportunity in many of the Words of God for them to be mistakenly misinterpreted in the wrong manner, and I do not mean to dishonor the Lord by saying so, but that may be on purpose by Him. If the Scriptures were crystal clear to all, there would be one faith, one religion, without question we would all know the truth, but as it is, the just must live by faith.
In our opening verse in this short letter to you, that interpretation has been used from many different vantage points, to our first marriage, or our first romance, to many other interpretations, but it means the love of Christ when He first comes into the knowledge of our minds and hearts, that flame, that fire, the all-consuming desire to seek His face, to know Him, to serve with abandon, and that is what many born-again believers lose, some quickly, others over time.
In my mind it can be compared to the first time I held my wife’s hand, the first time she said she loved me, and I knew she meant it, it is that first feeling that one experiences when we know the truth that the Lord will never leave us, or forsake us, forever we are His. But we are human, and a continuity with anything in our lives can, and usually does, lead to a type of sameness, and almost expectedness, and if we are not careful, it will lead to callousness towards that which we once desired with all of our being.
I offer you a short story along these lines here, I cannot recall if my lovely wife read it for us, or if we heard it, but it consumed me for quite some time, and its relevancy fits with our opening verse. A man and a woman who had been married for several decades, deeply in love, in fact for both of them it was their first love, and it was deeply intertwined between them. The man’s wife developed an illness, and for the last two years of their lives together he cared for her, he quit his job, and spent each day and night at her bedside, everything she needed he performed for her.
A friend of his once said to him that it must be an incredible burden to take on such a task, to which he replied, “It is no burden, in fact, it is my honor and privilege, for I love her deeply.” A wonderful story, an account of deep devotion, and when she died, and he was left alone, heartbreaking to hear. But recall once again our opening verse, “thou hast left they first love.”
I do not bring the account of this couple’s life to your attention to show that depth of love, but to tell you the end of the story. A year or so after this man’s wife died, he remarried. I will not judge him, that is not my place or yours, but I ask you, why did he not pine for her, they were both saved, God-fearing individuals who loved the Lord, and knew the truth of eternity, why did he not wait to see her again? In my mind the context fits this short letter, he left his first love, and found solace in the arms of another.
No one, nothing, there is nothing created or imagined that is to ever replace the Lord Jesus in our lives, He is our first love, and He is to remain in that position today, tomorrow and for all eternity. But time, the continuous repetition of life, circumstance of the moment, hardships, loss, the world, the flesh and its desires can draw us away from that first love.
I can take you to the exact place where I first held my beautiful wife’s hand, and I can tell you exactly where I was when the Lord called me to Himself. I have been the prodigal son, more than once, I have been the lost sheep, leaving of my own accord and being led away by sin, but I know my Redeemer lives, and the love I have for Him and His infinite mercy towards me cannot be surpassed. “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)
