Revelation 2:2-4 “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
Michael continues: Agape love is that God initiated love by loving us first. Romans 5:8 says, “But God commended his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” We can love Him only because He loved us first. We received His gift of the Holy Spirit when we repented of our sins, received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and were born-again, converted, transformed and regenerated. With the Holy Spirit, we received the ability to love Him with spiritual, agape love in return.
Ephesians 3:16-19 says: That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints [those who have been sanctified] what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fulness of God.”
To know God is to know the love of God which passes earthly knowledge. This super-natural spiritual knowledge assures our hearts of God’s unconditional love. For we are the sons and daughters of God in the midst of a wicked and perverse nation among whom we shine as lights in a world of darkness. Knowing the heart of God, to forsake the darkness of the world is forsake God commission. Knowing God’s heart is to love Him above all ... to acknowledge, despite the world’s malicious accusations, that we’re loved with the pure unadulterated love of God.
Apart from the spiritual love of God, worldly types of love are fragile, limited and fleeting. Worldly love is conditional on the performance of the other party. To love with God’s love, we must approach His throne of grace on His terms according to His word. The love of this world will leave us frustrated and unfulfilled. However, Jesus said, Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am [gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Within his grace, mercy, and love, it is God who worketh in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.
What does it mean to accept Jesus as Lord of your life? Lord means owner. The people of God are God’s people. This is the genitive of possession. Who are we when Jesus is Lord? Christianity is not who we are? Instead Christianity is “whose we are”. According to Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” What is the love of God? John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” Herein is the love of God made perfect. He who was without sin [Jesus] was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him.
In order to turn from sin and unto the Lord, we must approach Him with a contrite heart of repentance in humility. Therefore, 1 John 9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God has called us into fellowship with Himself. When we give up the rights of our sinful flesh, then we can come to Him with a heart of humility according to His terms. God will come to us with the grip of His Son’s nail-pierced hands. If He must break our hearts in order for us to reach for His hand, then thank Him for breaking our heart.
The devil will tempt us to think that we need to be on the throne and in control. The question is not who will sit on Christ’s right and left hand in positions of honor in God’s kingdom. The right question is, do you love me? You are not your own, You are bought with a price. Therefore we are His and He is ours. This is our challenge and our calling: Remember your first love and to love God above all. For He alone is worthy. May we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace.
Your brother in Christ, Michael
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