Hold Fast to Your First Love

Hold Fast to Your First Love

“Behold, I come quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.” Rev. 3:11.

If we have partaken of the first love, we will also do the first works, which are pleasing to God, and we will wear he victor’s crown on our head. If we do not possess the first love, we will have nothing to hold on to that is of any value. It is vital, therefore, that we let go of what we have and lay hold of this first love. God will more than gladly pour it out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

People can hold fast to their opinions and fight for them until they die, even though none of them are of any value before God. These people are stubborn and opinionated and are occupied with exalting themselves, their honor, and their position. What vanity! Just think to be rid of all this in your childhood and youth time and to receive something to hold fast to that is of value before God—something that makes us happy for time and eternity!

If we have received this first love, we really have received something to fight for, to exalt, and to defend, because only in this first love is it possible to remain standing as an overcomer. We must believe in its power, surrender to it, be active in it and seek its fullness to an ever-increasing degree.

The angel of the church in Ephesus had left his first love. “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.” Rev. 2:5.

If we leave our first love, we will also leave the spiritual light of revelation, and we will only be left with empty human opinions. The fellowship of love will vanish, and we will attempt to substitute it with organized fellowship. The whole thing will end up as a total disaster.

Only in this first love can we see and hear clearly and keep Jesus’ commandments with joy. Otherwise the result will be what we read in Lamentations 5:16-17: “The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! Because of this our heart is faint; because of these things our eyes grow dim . . . .” We can quickly end up in this sad state if we do not watch over our spiritual treasures and in faith fight to keep them. Those we read about no longer wore the crown of victory on their heads. They were sick, but not out of love for Christ.

We have left our first love on the day we are satisfied with the spiritual state that we have attained. As long as love for Christ is burning in our hearts, we will long to be filled with the fullness that dwells in Him. Our poorness of spirit, and our hunger and thirst for more, will increase as we partake of His divine life in the virtues of Christ. We will see the virtues of Christ increasingly clearer and more glorious. We will put on the virtues and proclaim them. This is our responsibility as the royal priesthood. Col. 3:12; 1 Pet. 2:9.

Jude exhorts us to keep ourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Jude 21. Yes, if we keep ourselves in the love of God, our life will blossom and grow, and we will bear fruit that will bring joy and pleasure to Him. It will be good for us and for others in this goodness of love and warmth. The things that please God can grow only in this kind of soil.

Therefore, if we have received this first love, let us hold fast to it, for only in it will our lives become rich and interesting, for time and eternity. Jesus says in John 15:14, “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” We are His best friends in this first love. We have His blessing and His pleasure over us. If someone accuses us, He will defend and justify us. Rom. 8:33. He will even share His eternal inheritance and treasures with us! V. 17.

If you have not received this love, then pray for it with all of your heart. Believe that you have received what you have prayed for, because you have prayed according to His will. 1 John 5:14-15. Then hold fast to it, live in it, and be active in it, until Christ returns. All of us experience sufferings and tribulations, but they last only for a moment and are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us. Rom. 8:18; 2 Cor. 4:17.