“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

— Revelation 2:4

Many of us vividly remember the day we gave our hearts to Christ. We were awash in love and warmth. Ah, my friends, our first love. There is nothing that can replace the first time we felt saturated with unconditional love.

Sadly, though, many of us have gone adrift. Our hearts have wandered. Maybe you can relate. Perhaps you’re not feeling as connected with God as you once did. Or maybe you don’t have your old passion for doing God’s will.

We all need to ask ourselves, “Have I remained true to my first love? Do I love Christ as when I first loved Him?” If not, Christ has a solution for those of us with diseased hearts.

There are three parts to Christ’s “prescription.” The first is to remember from where we have come. Christ says, “Remember from whence thou art fallen.” God asks us to respond wholeheartedly to our salvation. We can give no less. Christ has loved us even to the point of enduring the pit of Hell for our sake. How can we not reciprocate this love? God created and saved us to love Him forever.

The second part of Christ’s prescription is repentance. Because of evil, our love for God may have become lukewarm. Satan works to cool that love and constantly pours the waters of this world and its trappings upon us to kill the flame of our love for Christ. To revive that fire, we must confess and turn away from evil.

The third part is our return. God wants us to turn back to Him fully, holding nothing back. We must get down on our knees. Once we’ve humbled ourselves before God, we must ask Him to light such a flame in our hearts that it shall never go out. We need to ask for His forgiveness and cleansing and the ability to move forward in His grace.

When we are in love, we can accomplish all sorts of things for the object of our affections. When we’re out of love, even the smallest effort can seem burdensome. Today ask God to show you what your first love is. If you find that it isn’t Him, ask Him to help you remember where you came from, repent of your lukewarm attitude, and return to that fire of your first love.

“Oh, make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never outlive my love for Thee.”
“O Sacred Head” (Hymn)