overcoming the loss of the first love by giving the Lord the preeminence in all things

In Revelation chapters 2 and 3 we see the Lord’s speaking to the seven churches in Asia, and the first one of these is the church in Ephesus. On the one hand this church was good outwardly, but the Lord tells her, “But I have one thing against you, that you have left your first love” (Rev. 2:4).

The source of all degradation in the church is leaving our first and best love for the Lord. Everything negative comes out of this – the missing, the leaving, the losing, of the first love.

We need to learn to recover the loss of the first love toward the Lord by giving Him the first place, the preeminence, in all things!

Our God is an affectionate God

God is to us not only the Creator, the Redeemer, the Savior, and not even only the Shepherd of our souls – God is to us in Christ a God full of love, an affectionate God, a God who has fallen in love with us. God fell in love with man and He became a man to come and court us, woo us, draw us, and bring us to Himself that we may love Him.

Now if anyone says, “O Lord Jesus, I love You!” he will fall in love with the Lord! God loves us, and whenever we open to Him, He pours out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that we may love Him (Rom. 5:5).

Overcoming the loss of the first love

We all have to admit that, even though we love the Lord, we may not love Him with our first love, our best love. We may be good Christians outwardly, enjoying the Lord regularly, being proper believers in the church life, but what about our love for the Lord?

The word “first” in Rev. 2:4 is the same Greek word as “best” in Luke 15:22 – our first love toward the Lord is not only the love we had for Him when we first fell in love with Him, but it is the best love we have for the Lord! We need to recover our first love for the Lord that we may love Him with the best love and be saved from any degradation!

God is love (1 John 4:8, 16) – in the whole universe, only God is love. We can love God because He loved us first, and He poured out His love in our hearts. It is impossible for us to love our spouse, our family members, or the people around us with our own love – only God is love, and we need Him to fill our capacity of love with His love, the real love.

We need to ask the Lord to constrain us with His love, visible force us with His affection, so that we may love Him more. Many times during the day we need to tell Him, Lord Jesus, I Love You!

Giving Christ the first place, the preeminence

One very simple way to overcome the loss of the first love for the Lord is to give Christ the first place, the preeminence, in all things. The Bible begins with, “In the beginning, God …” (Gen. 1:1), and Colossians tells us that Christ must have the first place, the preeminence, in all things (Col. 1:18).

In order for us to love the Lord with the first and best love, we need to consider the Lord Jesus as the first in everything. In God’s eyes and in God’s economy, Christ is the first – but what about in our personal universe, in our decisions, considerations, emotions, living, walking, speaking, attitude, and in all our being?

Since the loss of the first love is the source, the origin, and the cause of the degradation in the church, we need to be desperate to learn to give Christ the first place in everything in our life. We need to talk to the Lord and converse with Him, asking Him how He feels about the little details of our life.

Lord Jesus, what do You think about the shirt I’m wearing? Lord, how do You feel about my relationship with this person? Lord, is my speaking pleasing to You? Lord Jesus, what about my attitude toward my parents, classmates, workmates, and my boss? Lord Jesus, I give You the first place in all the aspects of my life and living!

Guarding ourselves from idols

The last verse of John’s first epistle is, “Little children, guard yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). If we do not love the Lord with the first love, there will be many other things, matters, and persons coming in which will occupy us and draw our attention. People may say that they don’t have time to spend with the Lord, but they spend hours on Facebook or on the phone with their friends. Our sticky heart is so easily distracted, ready to attach itself to something – let us set our heart on the Lord and love Him by giving Him the preeminence in all things! May He be the only One who occupies and possesses us!

Lord Jesus, we want to cooperate with You to recover our first love toward You! We give You the first place in all things by faith. Oh, Lord, may nothing and no one take Your place in all our heart, our living, and our time! In all the aspects of our living, in our relationships, in our speaking, and even in out attitude – Lord, be the first! We give You the preeminence. Keep us checking with You about everything – just conversing with You and talking to You!

References and Further Reading

• Sharing inspired from, The Overcomers (by brother Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization-Study of Psalms (2), week 13.
• Hymns and songs on this topic:
  # Jesus, Lord, You’re our first love – You’re the One we love the best!
  # Loving You, Lord, is all I’m living for!
  # Lord, keep my heart always true to You!
  # God fell in love with man.