First Love
Do you remember your first love? That person who first stirred your heartstrings and with whom you wanted to spend every waking moment?
I think I was about five years old, and my family was good friends with the neighbors across the street. Roy Russell and I were inseparable and when he moved to another town, our families would still get together often. My father was in the Army and we moved to Germany, so Roy and I wrote letters back and forth. He sent me a “diamond” ring from the gumball machine (I don’t know what he was really trying to get) and that was thrilling. Once I was in the 7th grade, living in Texas and he was still in Maryland, it became obvious that our relationship probably was not going anywhere and I wrote him a letter to tell him so. I understand from a letter my mom received from his mom that I’d really broken his heart. First love. Usually doesn’t endure.
Recently, a friend was telling the story of an elderly couple who were driving along and she began reminiscing of the days of their young love. She used to sit right up next to him in the car, they’d hold hands everywhere, he’d keep her close on the sidewalk to protect her, they sat side by side at the table. Now it seems like they hardly ever hold hands, she sits against the car door, they walk down the street feet apart, and on opposite sides of the table. He turned to look at her and said, “I didn’t move. I’ve been right here all along.” Ouch!
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Rev. 2:4
When we first come to know Jesus and fall in love with Him, we cannot get enough of His word. We read it, we pray, we have conversations with Him, we talk about Him constantly. As the newness wears off, we tend to gradually back away in our enthusiasm. How it must grieve our Lord who loves us so much that we’ve “moved,” when He’s been right here all along.
Our friend Eddie recently shared with a group of us that he goes to a nursing home once a month with his brother and father and they sing hymns and play their guitars. One night, a lady in a wheelchair kept saying, “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!” repeatedly. He thought, “I guess tonight, we’ll sing about Jesus” and began singing hymns and choruses with the name of Jesus in them. Finally, she was wheeled away and he was saddened. At the end of the time, he asked why they had taken her away and they said she was disturbing everyone.
The next time the nursing home, she was there again, saying, “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!” in the same fashion as before. The staff wheeled her away again and he asked again afterwards why they took her away. Same answer. He told them that she was NOT disturbing him.
Eddie looked at us with tears streaming down his face and said, “I hope that when I get to the point in my life where I can only say one word, it is the name of Jesus.” WOW!!! That’s what it means to be in love with Jesus.
May we not forsake our first love; may we fall in love with Him all over again!
