40 Days of Purpose Wrap-Up
Landing Safely After a Spirtual High!
We've examined the question "What on Earth Am I Here For?" during our 40 Days of Purpose journey. To learn more about your life purpose, please read The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren, visit www.purposedriven.com or contact New Life Christian Ministries.
Monday, November 24, 2003
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, Thank You that after a spiritual high, you will sustain me when the spiritual lows come. I pray that my faith in You will be constantly growing, that not only the highs, but also the lows will draw me closer to You. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit today and always that I may live boldly and confidently for You. This I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
An Illustration from the Church in Ephesus
As we consider how to “land safely” after a spiritual high, let’s look at a passage of Scripture from Book of Revelation, chapter 2. . It was written to the church in Ephesus. Let’s read Jesus’ words to them: “I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary, But, I have this against you, you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen and repent and do the deeds you did at first…” Notice the description of these followers of Jesus. They’ve grown in their faith. It’s obvious they had a clear sense of their purpose. They had served the Lord with gratitude and emotion and joy and diligence, but something had happened. Somewhere along the way, in their journey with Jesus, something changed. It wasn’t a work problem. They were working diligently. As a matter of fact, the Bible says, “you’re great at work, you’re great at perseverance, you’re great at endurance.” They were doing the right thing. So it wasn’t a work problem. It wasn’t an information problem. It wasn’t that they were thinking the wrong things. Their problem was a love problem. They were suffering from what can adequately be described as “heart-drift.”
Let me ask you a question: Have you ever experienced “heart-drift”? This happens in male/female relationships all the time. At one point in their relationship they’re “dancing cheek to cheek.” Remember that point in your own relationship with your spouse, or that someone special in your life? Remember that sick at your stomach, giddy, jumpy, wide-eyed, enthusiastic, can’t stop touching kind of love? Do you remember? (Some of you don’t remember this, do you? It was a long, long time.)Attributes of First love
Here are some attributes of first love: Number one, you have an insatiable desire to learn all you can about the other person. I want you to imagine that “dancing cheek to cheek” couple, no longer at the dance, but at a restaurant. Do you remember what that was like? He’s not even touching his food—he’s not! Do you know what he’s doing? He’s talking to her. Yeah, that’s amazing! Having live conversation. Tell me about your past. Tell me about your pain. Tell me about your parents. Tell me about your present. Tell me about your plans for the future. But do relationships stay that way? Somewhere along the road, I don’t know when it happens, something often happens to love. The picture of time at the restaurant changes. He’s looking at his plate. He’s eating with both hands. Stuff’s falling on his shirt. He’s complaining about the price. And they’re not talking to each other at all.
A second attribute of first love, there’s a heavy investment in that love relationship. You’re willing to invest heavily. You want to spend some time together? No problem. You have all the time in the world. They could “dance all night.” The guy in this relationship might say, “Could I just drive by where you work and wave? Could I come in and watch you work? Could I watch you watch your watch while you work?” Money? Not a problem. They’re out to dinner—“Honey, order anything you want.” They go to the mall together and he says, “Baby, buy whatever you want.” That was back when he would actually go to the mall with her. Can you imagine the “old” relationship being like that? Can you imagine him going to the mall with her twenty, thirty years down the road? He doesn’t want to do that. But, if he does go to the mall, it’s like he’s doing time. Hard time. He’s looking at his watch the whole time.
A third attribute of first love is an intense preoccupation of the heart. Nothing else catches your eye, but the one you love. Nothing else is grabbing at your heart. Why? Because there is no room in your heart for anything or anyone else. You are full of love for the other. This is the person to whom you are willing to give with reckless abandon. This is the person who gets your full devotion, all your affection, every bit of your esteem. This person is your treasure.
What Can Happen To First Love?
What can happen to love? Revelation 2:4 says something insightful about love. It does not say, “You have lost your first love.” It says “You have LEFT your first love.” It was a choice. Actually, it was a small series of choices. Many of us have just come through 40 days of an incredible journey of spiritual growth and renewal. Right now, we’re on a high in our relationship with God. Others are just observers to this process. You may be reading a daily reading for the first or second time. Here’s what the Bible says to us, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” And once we do—once we do taste of the Lord—we will hunger and thirst for more of God. Because he’s not only desirable, He’s reliable. For those of us who have thirsted for righteousness, and hungered for God, it’s as if our hunger and thirst seem unquenchable. We cannot spend enough time. We can’t leverage enough of our resources. We can’t offer enough of our lives to Him. Love has captured us and we’re willing to be captives. It’s a spiritual high. If a Bible study is held—we’re there. If a worship service is going on –we’re there. We’re memorizing Scripture. We can’t wait for the LIFE groups to be launched. There’s no place we’d rather be. Nothing else we’d rather be giving our lives to. Jesus Christ is the full focus of our hearts and devotions.
This is the spiritual high-pressure system. It’s providing sunshine and stability to our lives. If we’ve lived and paid attention, that jet stream is still blowing and sooner or later, a spiritual low-pressure system will build. Clouds and storms will cover the weather map of our souls. Rain and coldness will blow across our hearts and over a series of small choices—we can and sometimes do leave our first love. What do we do when that happens? What do we do if it has already happened? How do we get started on a new place in the spiritual journey we’ve been taking? What steps do we take get out of a spiritual low place? That’s what we’re going to examine tomorrow. It’s so important for us to remember not to doubt in the darkness what we have seen in the light, but it’s so easy to do just that. When our first love leaves—or rather when we leave our first love, there are definite actions we can take to rekindle the flame and see that Jesus becomes the first priority of our lives again. I trust that you will join me tomorrow as we look at how we do just that!
Point to Ponder:
Am I still living with a “first love” faith, or have I left my first love?
Verse to Remember:
Remember therefore from where you have fallen and repent and do the deeds you did at first…” (Rev. 2:4)
Action Point:
What can I do right now to redirect my attention and activity on a first love relationship with Jesus?
To view other preview studies from our 40 Days of Purpose Journey, click here.