Genesis 22:1-2 is the first time in scripture that the word love is specifically mentioned. God says to Abraham, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
Do you think God loved Abraham? Do you think God loved Isaac? And let’s not forget Sarah. Do you think God loved Sarah? Of course He did. But how then is it possible He would ask Abraham to do such a thing? God wanted to know where He stood with Abraham.
Isaac was Abraham’s son. Surely Abraham loved him. But Abraham was prepared to offer Issac as a sacrifice because God asked. God was the first person to love Abraham, not Abraham’s parents as we would think. He was Abraham’s first love and He wanted to know if Abraham loved Him in that way. He wanted to know where He stood with Abraham.
In 1 John 4:19 we are also told, “We love Him because He first loved us.” We know where we stand with God. We are His First Love because “God is Love”(1 John 4:8). He doesn’t just love as an act, He is the essence of the act, He is the essence of the emotion, and He is the essence of the feelings we have toward those we love.
We will never be anything less than His First Love. John 3:16 tells us that He loved us so much that He sent Jesus, His only Son, to die for us that we may have life everlasting with Him. Jesus loved you before you were even born. Where does He stand with you?
There isn’t a person on earth who loves you more than Jesus and God. Not your spouse. Not your children. Not your mother or father. Not your friends. There is no one who loves you more than Jesus loves you. He is your First Love. He should never wonder where He stands.
It seems natural to us that we should love the people who brought us into the world. We feel their love, and so we return their love with our own. This will be a hard thing for some of us to understand and accept, but your parents are not your first love. The Lord is.
It was God who created you and allowed your parents to be part of bringing you into the world. He loved you first. You must learn to love your first love with the love that He loved you. By now you may be wondering what is Love? Read 1 Corinthians 13. The whole chapter is devoted to helping us understand what Love is. It helps us to understand who Jesus is.
It tells us Love, that is Jesus, suffers long with us and it is kind while doing it. Love, that is Jesus, does not envy anything that you have, does not parade itself around you, and is not puffed-up at you saying, Look at Me.” Love, that is Jesus, does not behave rudely towards you, does not seek His own, and is not selfish toward you. Love, that is Jesus, is not provoked and thinks no evil of you or of the things you do. It does not rejoice in evil but instead it rejoices in the truth. Love, that is Jesus, bears all things for you, believes all things for you, hopes and endures all things just for you. Love, that is Jesus, never fails to love you.
That is the nature of the Love in which He first loved you. What is going to be your response? Will you receive all these things and say to Him, “You are the first person to love me, so I am going to love You like You are my First Love”?
Where does He stand? Have you left your First Love for something or someone else? He is the first person to love you perfectly. Have you left your first Love trying to do the things you believe He would love you to do? Let Him be the first person in which you have tried to love perfectly.
Bear with Him and be kind to Him in doing it. Don’t envy things but humble yourself in His love. Don’t go around saying He loves me while you make others feel like they are not loved. Don’t be provoked into thinking and doing evil things. Behave like you are His favorite. Never let your love of Him and for Him and in Him fail to reach Him.
I don’t believe we can love anything or anyone else in the right way unless we keep our love for Him first. He is the first person we should love. Let’s make sure we are doing that. He is your First Love because He First Loved you. That is where He should stand with you.
Live a Delivered Life. Love you.
Live Delivered 