Last night at Wed Prayer Mtg, P Joe closed with a pretty archaic song. It made for a nostalgic drive home as I recounted God’s faithfulness over the years. Since stepping on the campus as a wide eyed freshie in 19__ (cough!) and unpacking my stuff at Snyder hall, so much has happened. It’s still hard to believe I have a family of my own now – kids that run at me with their high pitched screams when I come home and a wife who holds it all down in our highly combustible home :) .

Anyway, I digress. My thoughts eventually settled on Revelation 2:1-7, especially verse 4 and 5, “…You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first…” The obvious question begging to be asked is, “Do I love him as I did when I first met him?” Or, as the verse accuses, have I forsaken it? It’s important to note who does the leaving. He does not leave us; we leave him (YOU have forsaken your first love, not HE has left you because you are so messed up, etc.). The thing is, the Ephesian church was a hard working, upright church, made apparent by the commendation they received from the Lord a few lines earlier. And I think that’s where the tragedy is sometimes. We work for God before we walk with him. I know b/c it’s like that for me. Many times, my love is replaced with my work, when really my work should flow out of my love. Loveless work is powerless work. It is work that comes out of a burning heart inundated with God’s love that can show the glory of God to a dark world. So that was my first prayer on this V-Day. Lord, help me to love you as I once did, but in increasing measure. May your love mark and give energy to all that I do.

There was another little insight i walked away with (which I didn’t notice before). Verse 6 says: “But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” The more I thought about this, the more it encouraged me. Jesus is affirming the Ephesians’ hatred for something that he himself hates. They had the heart of Jesus when it came to the Nicolaitan’s teaching. I can almost hear the loving urge in Jesus’ voice, “Come on guys, you can do it. You can have my heart. You do in this case with the false teachers. I want you to be in line with my heart in everything. I want you to hate the things I hate and love the things I love.” It made me think of the song Perfect Love: “May your love become my every thought. I wanna know the sound of your heart. I wanna live for you now.” So my second prayer on this VDay is May I have a heart for God, so I may have the heart of God.

Happy V-Day Jesus. Thank you for your love for us. Help us to be like you.

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Rembrandt’s The Return of the Prodigal Son