My First Love

I love love.  I really, truly do.  I’m a sucker for the traditional romantic gestures.  Send me flowers.  Make me a compilation of the best love songs.  Feed me an extravagant meal by candlelight.  Fly me to a tropical location on a whim.  I’m here for it.

When you hear the term, “my first love” who comes to mind?  The super saints will instantly holler “Jesus!”  They’ve been saved and filled with the Holy Ghost all their lives, so they don’t have carnal thoughts.  They don’t think of the boy who wrote a note with 2 boxes.  The note that said, “Do you like me?  Check ‘yes’ or ‘no.’”  They don’t think of their first kiss or the first time they heard someone outside of their family whisper, “I love you.”

Although I’m saved and desperately in love with Jesus, the term “my first love” conjures up images of that boy.  The one who wrote me letters everyday for two years.  The one who kissed me in the rain.  The one who looked me in the eyes and told me I was beautiful.  That boy.

As I’ve grown in my relationship with Christ, I’ve come to realize that that boy wasn’t actually my first love.  Jesus loved me with a love that is incomprehensible long before I ever knew that boy existed.  And while the romantic gestures are beautiful, they can’t compare to the ultimate gift…the ultimate display of love.

God sent Jesus to die for me and you, so that we could live with them forever.  And that’s love.  Don’t get it twisted.  It’s easy for that to become just a routine thing to say.  A good Baptist preacher will always have the ability to lead us to Calvary’s cross, but this Valentine’s Day has me reflecting on realizing true love when I see it…and when I experience it.

Love is an action word.  That’s a personal mantra of mine.  I say it often. (Ask any man I’ve ever dated.  They’ll probably roll their eyes as they confirm this fact.  LOL!)  Love makes you move.  You can’t sit still.  You MUST display it.  It’s not just a whispered sentiment.

My love for Jesus prompted me to action.  You are reading a direct result of love.  This blog is just a continuous love letter to my TRUE first love.  Are you in love?  Are you experiencing love in a real way on this Valentine’s Day?  Are you expressing love?  Not just to God, but to the people around you?

Do you stop to help people who are in need?  Do you tell friends and family how much they mean to you and then back it up with actions?  Do you take time to love on those you don’t know by saying a kind word? 

Many people don’t like Valentine’s Day because it’s “commercialized”, but I’m not mad at it.  It gives us space to remember that love is important.  Some people only demonstrate love when a demand is placed on them.  Some people don’t take time to treasure what’s in front of them.

You do know that I’m talking about you and me, right?  Take time to appreciate Jesus.  Not just today but every day.  He deserves our love and admiration.  We only know what love is because He first loved us.  #wepreach