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First Love

In our human relationships we seem to accept the deterioration of intimacy as a given. Parents and children become estranged; spouses grow apart; friendships fade; it’s part of life. We’re all individuals and as we grow personally, sometimes we outgrow our relationships. It is so much a part of our lives that we seem to accept it as inevitable and, hence, normal.

It is ironic that we short-lived mortals have this view while the eternal God of love indicates that “Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:8) You’d think that it would be easier to sustain love undiminished over 20, 30, 50, 75 years than throughout eternity.

Apparently, God is offended by our fickle love. Check out various translations of Revelation 2:4. You’ll find words like this: you have left your first love; you have forsaken your first love; you walked away from your first love; you have abandoned the love you had at first; you no longer love Me as you did at first. No matter how it is stated, we feel the pain in the heart of the One making the charge. And it is expressed as a charge: “I have this against you that you have left your first love.”

We console, and perhaps excuse, ourselves with the thought that as love matures, it takes on a different character. The giddy passionate love of youth should be replaced by something more staid, dignified, and “grown-up.” Surely, though, the maturing of love, is a greater, grander thing, not an atrophied shadow of its former self. Mature love is more not less.

God’s love is already mature and, as such, sets the standard for our own. In His relationship with both Israel and the Church we see how God continually put up with the unfaithfulness of those He loves and, instead of obliterating them as they deserve, He drew them back and restored them. God’s love is patient.

God’s love is not showy and dramatic. He often expresses it through human agents and so, sometimes it appears that God is not directly involved, though He is. You never get the impression that God’s love is about love itself. It is always about the object of His love. He gave Himself for us. God’s love is humble.

Sometimes human love becomes overly familiar and people cross social boundaries. They are rude and self-seeking, even in love. God’s love isn’t like that. It respects its object. It doesn’t possess in a way that overwhelms our personhood or identity. God’s love is not self-seeking.

Sometimes what passes for love between people is selfishly motivated. God’s love reaches out for the benefit of the other. While it acknowledges our sin, it deals with that sin so that it can draw us in to a restored relationship. God’s love has nothing to apologize for. It is pure.

We don’t have time now to keep exploring, but look at 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 to see what real love - God’s love - is like.

No wonder people who turn away from this love, whether or not they have professed to accept it, are judged for their rejection. This is the kind of love that should be growing. It should lose nothing of its initial passion as it deepens. If anything the intensity of the expression should mature with the love. God has loved us from eternity past with a love that found its most complete expression when He loved us to death at the cross. Surely our brief lifespan is not too long a time to keep the flames of our love for God bright and leaping high.

Ron Hughes
© January 2008