(Lifeword)
Scripture
When we lose sight of our love for God, we can always repent and come back to Him. #theloriclineshow Interested in learning more about becoming a devoted follower of Christ? Go to follow.lifeword.org! ~~~ Have you lost that lovin’ feelin’? Is it gone, gone, gone? Could your heart be like this balloon? In one moment it’s full of possibilities and then the next (LET THE BALLOON GO) it has left the building, leaving you empty and deflated. The Righteous Brothers recorded, You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ in 1964. It resonated with hearts across the country so much that it shot up the charts to number one and people are still singing it today thanks to radio, television and top gun. If by chance you’ve been living under a rock and do not know the song, it basically describes behaviors that seem to reveal a love, which was once strong and passionate, that has lost its fizzle. A heart is drifting and it’s showing. The connection is no longer what it was. When it comes to relationships and love, some might say if you’ve lost that lovin’ feelin’, then the feelin’ you had was probably not TRUE love. True Christ like love, which is described so beautifully in 1 Corinthians 13, stands the test of time. A love that fades is most likely infatuation, which has been described as unreasonable and short-lived passion. Isn’t that often where our hearts are recklessly drawn? We settle for short-lived passions that fade and leave us empty. We are quick to give our heart away to things and people that don’t deserve it and then we wonder why we are left holding the pieces. Our heart, the most precious part of who we are, is what God desires. Jesus said in Matthew 6, ”seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” He also said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Every new day our heart must first be filled with Christ. This realigns us to follow and treasure HIS way and His word over our own. We hear His voice above the worlds. Still, our hearts are prone to wander. Our time with Jesus decreases and our time with the world and the cares and temptations of it increases. We drift and our first love begins to be replaced with cheap imitations of what God ordained. The love of God FOR us is faithful and steadfast, but our love for Him over and over proves to be fading and faithless. The marriage of the The Old Testament prophet Hosea and his wife Gomer puts on full display the example of our wandering hearts. We give our heart to Jesus and then over and over we redirect that love and offer it FULLY to whatever idol the day may bring. God forgive us and may we get back to our first love and commit to it with our whole heart. Revelation 2:4-5 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. Jesus, through the Apostle John, addresses the church of Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2. This church is referred to as the ‘loveless’ church. The church, of which Jesus is the cornerstone, has always been God’s plan to display His grace, love, truth and mercy to not only the world as we know it but also to the angels we can’t see. (Don’t take my word for it, see Ephesians chapter 3.) So the church matters, so much so that Jesus addresses the seven churches in Asia at that time and his message STILL applies to us today. He tells the loveless church, along with you and me, you’ve lost your love for me! You’ve fallen out of love and replaced your devotion and affection for me with whatever your fleshly heart desires. Repent. Come back to your first love. Our life and heart falls to pieces and we wonder where IS God in all of it. Friend, He never left. We wandered off. He does not. We choose our own way and ignore His. We are faithless and He is forever faithful, lovingly waiting for our return. That’s the truth. No matter where your heart may be right now, give it back to Jesus. Maybe you’ve never given it to Him in the first place. Today’s the day. What a beautiful day to discover a love that never leaves you, is never ending and never fades. Call on the name of the Lord and be saved. Seek that love first and everything else will follow. I’m Lori Cline.
Other media in this series
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)
(Lifeword)