"So, beloved, if we live near to Christ, we cannot help loving him: the heart that is near Jesus must be full of his love. But when we live days and weeks and months without personal intercourse, without real fellowship, how can we maintain love towards a stranger? He must be a friend, and we must stick close to him, as he sticks close to us—closer than a brother; or else, we shall never have our first love."
I just finished listening to this sermon by C.H. Spurgeon this morning on the Declension From First Love. The message is based on Revelation 2:4 where Paul is speaking to the church at Ephesus. The Ephesians had seemingly everything in order in their church, but they were missing something important - they had left their First Love.
Brothers and Sisters, if you are suffering today, perhaps it is that you have lost your first love. Maybe your walk is well seasoned but your passion for God has dissipated. Or perhaps you are a young Christian and you are still blossoming - the fire has not gone out but is burning brightly. We must remember that it is bound to happen to all of us that the fire will go out for a time. The points that Spurgeon makes here are helpful in guarding against that likelihood of letting your First Love slip away from your hearts and minds and also in getting your First Love back.
There are so many points I want to make here, but I'm afraid I'd go into too much detail and then prevent you from actually listening to the message which is given much better than I ever could (possibly because I'm not intended to)! So I will end my portion here and allow you to move forth and fill your cup with spiritual goodness.
So here it is:
"Declension From First Love"
C.H. Spurgeon
Friday, October 15, 2010
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