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.  And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Mathew 22:37-40).

 

Who is your First Love?  Remember when you were in High School and you had your first crush.  Each day you go to school to look for the person you liked to say hi and say something corny to make the person laugh.  You all remember those days.  You would stay up all Friday night talking on the phone about nothing, but you didn’t care as long as you could be on the phone with that person.  We’d make time for this person. 

 

This is what God desires of us, to make time for Him by having an intimate relationship with His Son Jesus Christ.  God desires us to get to know His Son and follow His example by reading the Bible and applying His words to our hearts and being a living testimony to the world.  God desires our time, our thoughts, our actions, our monies, and our bodies to be surrendered to His Son Jesus Christ.  Our Pastor just preached about Romans 12:1, which says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  Who is your First Love?

 

The more I get to know the Lord by reading His word, the more the Lord opens my eyes and reveals Himself to me.  Dear Lord You Are Awesome.  I thank You for what You have done in my life, what You are doing in my life, and all You have planned for me.  Dear God I want to tell You that it is my pleasure to talk to You through prayer.  I can tell You everything, no matter what time it is, and no matter what is wrong because you said to cast all my burdens upon You and You will sustain me (Psalm 55:22).  Dear God I want You as the center of my life.  I don’t mind waking up with You on my mind.  I don’t mind giving myself, because I am Yours.  I don’t mind giving back to You because everything is Yours to begin with.  Dear Lord I Love You, therefore stretch me, mature me, and transform me into who You desire me to be.  I know, time is Yours, money is Yours, and my earthly vessels is Yours, therefore have Your way.

 

Before the fall of man, Adam and Eve were able to see God’s face.  We want to get back to seeing God’s face again.  The only way to see Him again in heaven, is to accept His Son Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and making Jesus Christ our First Love by serving Him in all we do, all we say, and all we think.  God made his people His First Love.  He loved us before we even existed.  God loves us so much that he created us in His own image.  So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:27).  Who is your First Love?

 

 

GOOD WORKS:   THREE PART SERIES

Part III:   Is It For God, or Is It For You?

 

                When you put Jesus Christ first in your life, you’ll begin a lifelong transformation both spiritually and physically.  Your prayer life will increase.  Your time reading and meditating on the word will increase.  You’ll cease to participate in workplace gossip and workplace politics.  These are just a few of the transformations that you will go through as you start living your life Christ-like. 

                When you start living your life for Christ, evil forces will come against you to knock you off track.  But this should be expected since you are one of God’s children.  “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against power, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).  That is why we must always start our day off by putting on the whole armor of God.  This is our only defense against these evil forces.

                Now as we live our lives for Christ, people should be able to see Christ in us.  What we do and how we act be show a direct reflection of Jesus Christ.  By believing in Him and living your life for Him, we should in turn be doing good works.  Looking to get back at somebody because they did something bad to you is not living Christ-like.  Looking to put somebody down just to boost you up is not living Christ-like.  Those acts are of a selfish nature.  We must remember that we are living for God and should be a living testimony through Him.  The good works that we do are His glory and His glory alone. 

We must also understand that part of that physical transformation is changing your attitude.  And if you are truly living a Christ-like life, then you should have a new attitude.  And not just a new attitude towards the things that you like, but also a new attitude towards the things you dislike.  Your attitude is a reflection of what is in your heart.  And where your heart is determines who (or what) you are doing your good works for. 

                There is one of two reasons for your good works.  The first is for self.  You are looking for self- gratification and recognition for what you do.  Again, you are looking to boost yourself up.  And doing good works for someone or something else still leads back to you.  So we are still looking at self.  The second reason is for God’s glory.  You are doing the good works that God wants you to do.  For the Bible teaches us in Matthew 6:1-4 that “When you do good deeds, don’t try to show off.  If you do, you won’t get a reward from your Father in heaven.  When you give to the poor, don’t blow a loud horn.  That’s what show-offs do in the meeting places and on the street corners because they are always looking for praise.  I can assure you that they already have their reward.  When you give to the poor, don’t let anyone know about it.  Then your gift will be given in secret.  Your Father knows what is done in secret and He will reward you.”

                That is how our good works should be done.  We should always be looking to glorify God and not ourselves.  So today let’s do our good works the right way, God’s way.  And as we continue in our lifelong spiritual and physical transformation, while putting on the whole armor of God, let us continue to seek Him first and to ask Him to change our hearts and our attitude for His glory.  In Jesus name.

 2011-01-04