Our Forever Valentine: Jesus, Our First Love!

Since my Monday Morning Blog is posting on Valentine’s Day, I thought it was only appropriate that we talk about love. Typically, we think about romantic love on this day, but there are so many different aspects to love.

Remember in grammar school sharing Valentine’s cards with classmates. You might’ve had a crush on one of them, but mostly you were trying to collect as many cards as you could that day. I’m not even sure kids still are allowed to share Valentines today but it’s a fun memory for many of us. It wasn’t about love, but more about friendship and camaraderie.

February is the month of valentines, but it’s also National Heart Health month, and a good time to reflect on your diet and exercise regime. At least, be sure if you’re eating chocolates today, it’s dark chocolate! At our house, we’re hoping the snow will start melting and there will be glimpses of spring and warmer weather.

When I think about true love, my mind always goes to Jesus. Yes, my husband and I make plans to do something special to celebrate our love on Valentine’s Day, but we both know that Jesus is our First Love. We wouldn’t have made it these twenty-nine years through the stresses and trials of a blended family and other devastating life issues if we hadn’t put Jesus at the center of our marriage, but most importantly, at the center of each of our lives. We don’t want to ever forget that Jesus Christ is our First Love!

In Revelations 2:2-4, Jesus admonishes the church in Ephesus that even though they were a dutiful church following all the religious rules and ceremonies, they had forgotten who they were serving and why they were even a church. They weren’t showing or exemplifying the love of Jesus.

 I [Jesus] know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. ³ You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

⁴ Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. ⁵ Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Removing the lampstand meant they would stop being an effective church. And if we’re not careful, the same thing could happen to us in our personal lives too! When we forget the love of Jesus that burned in our heart when we first gave our life to Him, Jesus says . . . no matter how many Bible studies we attend, how perfect our attendance is at church, or how much we volunteer and tithe. . . none of it matters if we’re motivated by duty and not love.

A pastor once asked the children how we know Jesus is alive today. Their answer was He lives in each of our hearts. That’s true love!

So whether you’re single or married, I want to share three important points about what love has to do with our witness for Jesus, especially as we look at the tumultuous times we live in today.

Christians Need to Love Each Other

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other. John 15:16-17

Jesus was talking to his disciples here and we are Jesus’s disciples now. God chose us to bear fruit and we can’t have a message of love if we don’t love each other. We can’t have dissention in the church or among church members. Sadly, Satan has used the current political and pandemic unrest to pit brothers and sisters in Christ against each other. In the Bible, there are no Democrats, Republicans, Progressives, Liberals, Conservatives, vaxxers or anti-vaxxer, maskers or anti-maskers.

There is only One timeless Word of God.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Heb. 13:8

There is also only one kind of Christian: “Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” John 3:3

As born-again Bible-Believing Christians, we’re appointed to go out and bear testimony to the world together. We should unite as one front! Whatever allows us to share the Good News that Jesus saves, we’re for; whatever prohibits that freedom or tries to silence us, we’re against.

Whatever upholds the teachings of the Bible, we’re for; whatever prohibits or alters those teachings, we’re against.

We stand together for the sanctity of human life, marriage between a man and a woman, God creating us as men and women, and we’re not afraid to lovingly bear that fruit for Jesus.

Anything separating us on those issues isn’t from God!

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 1 Peter 1:22

Christ Loves Us with a Never-Ending Love

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. 8:38-39

Sadly, we see divided churches, families, friends . . . all proclaiming to be Christians yet separated by issues where there should be unity, and Satan wins because our witness is compromised. That’s a shame! There is a lost world that really needs to see the love of Christ displayed through a body of Christ that shows the love of Christ and agrees on what it means to be a Christian. But we know today that’s not the case. The good news is that nothing we do can ever separate us from the love of God for those who have truly accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

I had a man on Facebook tell me once that he had been a Christian for 50 years, read the Bible numerous times, been to church, talked to pastors, attended Bible study groups, but now has decided Christianity is a farce, doesn’t work for him anymore, and told me I needed to know that Jesus is not returning. Two things came to mind: (a) You can leave Jesus, but He will never leave you. (b) You can be a Christian in name only, but never have experienced the saving grace of Jesus Christ, your First Love, which I wrote about in last week’s blog, A Society Crumbles That Doesn’t Recognize Sin. His words were so harsh I fear he was in the latter group.

I remember singing a song as a little girl, maybe you remember it too: “I have the love of Jesus love of Jesus down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart to stay.”

How Much Love Do You Have to Give?

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him. John 3:16-18 The Message

Do You Love Jesus Enough to Share Him with Others Or Are You Keeping All the Love To Yourself?

Another woman on Facebook wrote this:

FB woman: There are many other religions who do not make Jesus/Satan part of their belief system. All destined to damnation? It’s a big world out there and much of it overcomes the negative.

Me: “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

FB woman: Written by John a century later, an evangelist trying to convert the world to his new religion. PBS and History Channel do wonderful educational shows on the origins of the Bible. Check them out. I have read the Bible extensively Janet, I just haven’t drawn the same dark conclusions. And the shows I mentioned are created by scientists and historians with no agenda but discovery. I wouldn’t want to rest my eternity on what someone else says.

This woman was very confused, but I was able to talk with her a little and point out that John was actually with Jesus during His ministry, not a century later, and she was resting her eternity on what scientists and television said rather than letting God speak to her through the Bible. Maybe I made some headway. My heart breaks for those misled by the liberal progressive godless agenda with their many “belief systems,” and for Christians who have forgotten their First Love.

Love says we will take the time to share the truth, wherever and whenever we have the opportunity.

I often have to remind myself that Jesus died for the liberal mainstream media and the godless radical progressives. It’s my job to let them know the gospel in a loving way. It’s up to them to make the choice. I don’t try to convince them, because you can’t reason with someone blinded by evil.

If they’re not following God, they’re following Satan. Those are the only two roads; there is no middle path. But now they’re accountable for knowing there is another way and maybe someone else will share a little more love down the road. Who knows, they just might decide that heavy load of anger, bitterness, revenge, meanness, bullying, lies . . . whatever has turned their heart so hard . . . just isn’t worth carrying around anymore.

No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced,
    but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others.

⁴ Show me the right path, O Lord;
    point out the road for me to follow.
⁵ Lead me by your truth and teach me,
    for you are the God who saves me.
    All day long I put my hope in you. Psalm 25:3-5 NLT

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 1 Cor. 13:4-5

If you received this blog by email, please leave a comment here.

You might also enjoy another blog How to Have a Date with Jesus!