I’ve continued to spend time with God on this idea of returning to my first love. I so want to encounter and experience God in a deeper, more permanent basis. I spent time on:
Matthew 3:8 – Bear fruit in keeping with repentance and Rev 2:5b – Repent and do the works you did at first.
If you’ve been reading these blogs over the weeks, I’d shared with you that I’d left my first love (Jesus) in that I was coming more and more to rely on self (and, subtly, pride was the root there).
I believe I’ve repented, but how do I know for sure? Matthew 3:8 and Rev 2:5b give us a clue. I got to thinking: what is repentance? And as I spent time with God on this, here is what I am pondering:
Repentance comes from a godly sorrow (see 2 Cor 7:10) and will result in a lifestyle, plan, choices, activities geared toward making good fruit possible.
As I thought about “doing the works I did at first,” the Holy Spirit clearly reminded me that I used to:
– Pray consistently
– Read and treasured the Bible and other works that helped me understand it
– Act according to conviction with friends and strangers (that is, I didn’t “follow the crowd”)
– I shared Christ when I saw/sensed opportunity
These were things I did as a child and adolescent! As I’ve grown, I’ve drifted from my first love via benign neglect. I don’t do the above things like I used to — and I don’t do them because I’ve “forsaken my first love” in relying more and more on self (again, pride is really at the root there).
This has been a painful thing to deal with, but a necessary thing in breaking up the “fallow ground” of my heart and seeking the Lord (Hosea 10:12b).
But oh the joy of sensing the Holy Spirit present and active in my life! Oh, the joy of recognizing that still small voice once again!
If any of this resonates with you; if you also sense God calling you to return to your first love, I encourage you to break up our fallow ground (repent), and seek the Lord until He is found — then there is true fulfillment in Him and opportunity to make an impact in His kingdom!
Ants in the Pants of Faith 
Well, it seems for completely different reasons, we are coming to the same conclusion. I have recently redefined faith. I had always thought of it as intellectual assent to the doctrines and teaching of the church in the absence of proof. I have decided I am way off base. Instead, faith is an individuals response to the word of God that always impacts the way we live our life. It is the faith of Abraham who believed God’s would make him a great nation and left his homeland.
BTW, your about me page needs some work. 😉