Article
God's Love and Revival
March 15, 2020
“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” Revelation 2:4
“We love him, because he first loved us.” I John 4:18
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” I John 4:9
The motivation for our salvation came from God’s love for us. His love for us gave the gift of Christ for our salvation. Our eternal life is inexorably tied to God’s love. Because of His love, we have the opportunity to have eternal life. Without God’s love, there is no salvation.
God’s love is the first love we experience spiritually. Although our parents, family, and friends may love us even enough to die for us, God’s love is the purest and most profound love we can ever know and feel. For those people who have not received love from those around them, God’s love is exponentially more than enough for anyone. Christ gave us the ultimate example of love and instilled within His believers the depths of His love. No matter if we have been cradled with love from birth or deprived of love our entire lives, Jesus loves us with eternal and unconditional love. Jesus loves you.
What does it mean to leave our first love? While there is room for several possibilities, God’s love for us is our taste of genuine love. To leave our first love is to substitute some cheaper form of love for the perfect love God has demonstrated to us. Our passion is cheap, shallow, manipulating, demanding, cruel, and fake. Christ’s love is paid in blood, deeper than the deep, freely offered, unconditionally given, filled with tenderness, and genuine for eternity.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith….” Galatians 5:22
The first fruit of the Holy Spirit is love. We receive God’s love through salvation and are called to reproduce His love in our relationship with Christ and people. The two great commandments of Christ are to love God with our whole heart and love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40). When we substitute a fake love for God’s love, we are no longer bearing fruit. Christ’s love gave us eternal life. He will not tolerate a cheapened substitute to lead new converts away from Himself. He wants everyone to taste His love, not our petty, contrived forgery.
Why do we need revival?
To be revived, one must be dead or near death. If Christ came to bring life, why is His church dead? The only thing that has ever brought death is disobedient sin. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, death entered the world (Romans 5:12). The sole remedy for sin came through God’s love, namely Christ. When will we restore God’s love to its rightful place within our lives and the church? God is waiting, and time is running out.
Love is the first fruit of the Spirit. When was the last time you prayed to bear genuine fruit of the Spirit? When was the last time you prayed to emulate God’s love both in your relationship with God and your relationships with others? God’s love is too perfect to be taken for granted or stored away on a dusty shelf. It is the perfect work of art and worth. There is no way to recreate a forgery or pass off a cheap knockoff. Hypocrisy within the church begins with a forged copy of God’s masterpiece of love. When a church peddles enough of these worthless trinkets, the church dies. If you want to be genuine in your relationship with God and others, start by bearing the fruit of God’s love within yourself.
If you ever expect to experience revival, you need God’s love flowing through you. Christ’s love for you kept Him on the cross. He allowed Himself to suffer unspeakable horrors because He loves you that much! It is time for you to taste His love again. It is time for you to return to the masterpiece and forsake your seduction with a cheap forgery. Time is of the essence. Revival is coming. The question is: Will you be swept out and away when the Spirit moves, or will you be swept up to a higher and closer relationship with God and others? Now is the time of decision. Tomorrow comes when the Judgment begins.
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