We’ve all had a first love. Whether it be your fifth grade teacher or the person you may have eventually married. I think we’ve all had the ‘first love’ experience or feeling.
My first love? Donny Osmond – hands down. I looked forward to watching his show each week, even though today I can’t remember the name of it. I LOVED his smile (kinda still do, actually). I couldn’t wait to hear his voice belt out the next song (would it be another rendition of ‘Puppy Love’ in the soprano range, or perhaps, ‘Too Young’?). It didn’t matter. I watched and oohed and ahhed and diligently memorized every song as I patiently waited for him to answer my letters. In fact, I’m still waiting.
My first love – it was foremost in my mind. It was the main thought of my life that consumed my every day, perhaps even my every moment.
My first love – I adored him. I was devoted as a fan. There never was nor would there ever be anyone else like him. He was irresistible. How could you not love a face like this? And the hair – you’ve gotta love the hair…
Puppy Love
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Then I grew up. I gave all of my albums away. I tore all the posters off my walls (carefully) and I moved up to bigger and better things. Like Steven Curtis Chapman. Just kidding.
To love someone is to adore them, find them irresistible, be devoted to them and yes, we may even find ourselves worshiping them. To make them your first love would be to make them foremost in your mind, to make them the beginning of each day. They are your main, constant, and consistent thought.
I find I love many people. Yet, the one I love most is my first love. The one who loved me first. It is because he first loved me, that I am able to love others (1 John 4:19) and – love Him back.
Jesus had a reason for showing up here on this earth, one night in a stable. He came to set us free. He came to show us what real love was all about. Instead of embracing that love, we spit in His face and called Him a liar. Instead of accepting His offer of love, we nailed Him to the cross and laughed at His claims.
If I think for one second that I am off the hook for not being a part of doing such things, I had better re-examine my heart. I put Him on that cross , pounding the nails that pierced His flesh with every sin I chose to commit. I could have signed every nail and made it my own. Instead, He took those nails for me – because He loved me first.
One day I understood. One day I realized that Donny Osmond was a fleeting flame and a fantasy made larger than life in my brain (maybe that’s what made it defective).
One day I opened my eyes and really fell in love – real love – with my Savior. The One who loved me first, without conditions, no strings attached, and open arms. This was a love that went far beyond any puppy type love.
Did you ever realize that as they hammered nails into our Savior’s hands, his arms were stretched wide open? Arms to receive you with a love that said, ‘I forgive you’? A love that said ‘There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you (if He knew it would be the best thing for you?)’ A love that would back up that statement to the point of dying for you?
It was a cold, rainy night when I met Him. The skies thundered, the rains pelted down upon the roof and me? Tears streamed down my face as Jesus became my first love in that old pink kitchen.
How do we keep Him in His rightful place? It has to be a conscious effort, for there are so many distractions that easily cause our eyes to turn away and our hearts to beat for something that isn’t even comparable.
Come running back when you’ve realized you’ve gotten off track. Run fast into His open arms. There is nothing you can do that won’t keep those arms open for you. If He did love us first, in our filth and shame, I believe He’ll love us always. There’s nothing you can hide from Him, nothing He didn’t know from the beginning of time. And still, in spite of our sins, those arms remain open.
All we have to do is run back. Turn around and turn away from the distractions of this world. Turn back to Him.
He’s been waiting.
What are we waiting for? It’s not going to get any better than that.
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Well-put. He should always be our first love. Why do we have so much trouble remembering to put him first?
We just get distracted so easily with the easy fixes – we are so easily deceived, aren’t we?