Reminiscing About Love

Happy New Year!

It seems hard to believe that it's been 20 years, TWO DECADES since the new millennium/ Y2K. It was my first year bringing in the new year with my love, Steve. He was a bass player (still is) and his band was playing in Vegas. We had only been together a couple of weeks at that point after meeting when he played a show here in Albuquerque. It was after that trip our relationship began and eventually both of us would be found by Jesus.

Taking the time to reminisce is good for relationships. Remembering that first love we had brought back all the feels for me.

It's the same in our relationship with Jesus. Good seasons in life can lead us to wander off thinking we "got this" and causing us to become complacent while bad seasons can cause us to wander off wondering where He is. Either way, in our deepest parts we all long for that experience of love with our Lord and Savior.

The new year caused me to reminisce about when Steve and I first fell in love and then it led me to reminisce about when I first fell in love with Jesus.

Which I needed to do more than I realized.

In Revelation 2:4-5 Jesus tells the church in Ephesus, "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.  Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first." 

What a convicting statement Jesus made. But it's also so encouraging. If you've read God's Way to Success you'll remember in each goal we look to the scriptures. And we specifically look to what we need to trust God for and what is in our control so we can plan our action steps. In this verse, Jesus' part is implied. If we've wandered off, His love for us never diminished -only our ability to recognize it or experience it.

​Happily, He is quite clear with the remedy to revive our love for Him and others: 

1. Consider how far you've fallen
2. Repent (turn, change your mind, change the direction you are going)
3. Do the things you did at first

My encouragement to you today -regardless of any other good and godly goals you have this year- is to do exactly those three things first in your relationship with Jesus and second in your marriage and/or other relationships.

Imagine how wonderful and exciting 2020 will be if you do those things!