The Church in the first blush of its love for the Man who died for them had a creed of just three words: “Christ is Lord.” It told them all they had come to know since they had put their trust in Him. The One who had come from God and went to God, had come that He might die for them, and gone that they might live in Him. He was theirs through faith, and they were His by grace. All that hell could hurl at them could not change that. Nor could the lusts, fears, and doubts of their own hearts.
They longed to see Him, and so this world held no charms for them. It was a cold, dark place where once the One they served had been nailed to a cross of shame. True, it was for their sins He had died, but the world and all it found dear had been judged by that act. They did not want Him then; they do not want Him still.
So it was that men like John and James, Luke and Paul lived their lives with one goal–to please Him. Come what may, by life and by death, they would seek to bring joy to His great heart. Who would not live for One who died for you?
What has gone wrong? Why are we quick to find fault and slow to help? You can get crowds to come and eat; few will come to pray. We sow much, but have no crop to show for all our work. We are fed, but are not filled. We are dressed well, but not warm (at least in heart). What we earn seems to be placed in a bag full of holes.
Have you heard that before? Of course, you have. So what can we do? The Lord of Hosts can tell us. “Think on your ways,” He says. More and more is spent on self. It seems there is no time to read the Word of God, to kneel in prayer, to serve the saints, to reach the lost with the Good News. We have the same span of time as all men do. We say we want to use it for the Lord, but days turn to weeks, then months, and years–and what will it all look like when we view it as we stand by His side in the land we call our true Home?
Is it not time to go back to the first things? There are the first works that wait to be done. Can you think back to those days when you were first saved? You had just one Book as your guide and you used it to meet every need of your soul. You had just one charge, and that was to walk hand-in-hand, heart-to-heart, with the Lord of your life. You had just one goal–to please Him in all you did, that men might see your good works and it would make them think of God!
Have the times changed so much, or is it we that have changed? Can we not still find some, just saved, who live now as we once did? The Lord waits to have us back, we who have left our first love. What will it cost us to do this?
1) We must get down to go up: The low place is just where the Lord meets with His own. He went down till He could go down no more. Down to earth; down to wash feet; down on His face to weep and pray; down, down to the cross. Yes, He went up, as we shall. But now is the time to go down. In God’s good time, He will lift us up.
2) We must go back to go on: If first love and first works are our goal, we will not find them by a grim trek through the dry land that spreads out in front of us. We must trace our steps back to the place where we turned from the sweet spring that bursts from the throne of God.
When we do get back, there are two things we will find hard to solve. Why did we ever leave His will for the wastes of self and sin? And why does He stand with arms stretched out to take us back? Can you think of one time when you turned your steps to go home that He did not run and kiss you, though you smelled of the pigs and were dressed in rags? We should not run from Him, but to Him!
3) We must give up to get what our heart longs for: It is a rule of life with God that a man is not made rich by what he takes up, but by what he gives up. Grasp your life and you will lose it in the end; give it up to Him and you will find that He takes good care of His things! You may seek the world or you may seek the Lord, but you will not have both–for they both will cost you your life.
Is this new? Of course not. Is it what we need? It is. The fact that it is not new does not mean it is not true. When we give up on big things and fast things and your things and my things, we need to get back to first things–God’s things.