"Give me to drink...If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." John 4:7,10
Recently we have been going through the book of Revelation in our morning messages at church. In the letter to the church at Ephesus, the Lord used John to write, "..Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee; because thou has left thy first love." (2:4).
Many years ago I heard a message which stood out in my mind. It was about my "first Love". The preacher (I am not sure of his name now) claimed that the Christian's first love is Jesus Christ himself. Through all these years I have 'known' (in my own heart) that the person of Jesus Christ is who it must mean when Revelation 2:4 speaks of this. It may not be all that "first love" is, but when the Word says that "...when Christ, Who is our LIFE, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." it reminds me that He is my very life. It is HE whom I received when I received new life. He alone is my "first love". It may mean other things than this, as many commentators and holy men of God ascertain, but to me it is Jesus Christ Himself.
Thinking on these truths this morning and having read the quote, "give me to drink", I am asking myself; How much joy have I been giving to my Lord Jesus Christ this week, this month, this year? Are the things in my life bringing joy and cheer to His heart? Have I shown Him kindness in "giving Him to drink"? today? yesterday? How full of extravagant love are my actions toward Him? any fuller than they were when I was newly related to Him? Does He find me recalling the time when I did not care for anything but Him? I am praying this morning that in the areas where I see that I have "left Jesus Christ off" or out, I will repent and do the first works. This needs to be done right now, momentarily, every time I see that I have "left" Him.
All God wants is our HEART; an honest and true heart that keeps short accounts with Him, our FIRST LOVE.
I pray that if you know the Lord and have left Him off in any area, that this will be a help to you spiritually. I know these musings have been good reminders to me today. Thank you so much for stopping by the Hill this morning! Have a blessed day.
What a very encouraging post! When I saw the title in my blog list in my sidebar, I was very curious and just had to check it out. Such an encouragement. In our ladies' Sunday School class we have been studying the fruit of the Spirit and are currently looking at faithfulness. This fits in perfectly. Thanks so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMrs T. You are the encouraging one! I am always blessed by your comments and look back on our friendship with such blessing. I wish we could be together more often, as in old times. One day we will all be together in Heaven for eternity. What a joyous future we have in Jesus Christ! Thank you for taking time to comment. -Syds1girl
DeleteThanks so much for your sweet and thoughtful words, Syds1girl. I don't always have time to comment, but I do always read!
DeleteI meant to add to my comment, too, that I loved the picture of your lighted cabin doorway. So warm and welcoming! Mr. T and I often talk and dream of finding our way to Darling Hill for a visit. Maybe one of these months we will do so.