Our First Love

In the week to come the campus christian groups at WVU will be participating in what is know as "Another World is Possible" week. The week seems to focus on domestic and international social justice issues of a variety of sorts. This is a beautiful thing for anyone to get involved in and I pray that all the time, talent, and treasure given this week would be multiplied by God's abundant blessings.

However, a dear friend of mine recently reminded me of what this week used to be titled years ago, that being "Jesus Week". Which leads me to think about the church of Ephesus in what Jesus had to say to them in His Revelation to John that:

^"2 I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. ³I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. ⁴But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. ⁵Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent." Rev. 2:2-5 ESV

I pray that in the week to come, and until His return for that matter, that we remember our first true love first and foremost. As we pursue to reveal the social atrocities of this world, may we more importantly pursue to reveal the atrocities we have committed against our God. As we are filled with passion towards the oppressed and dying, may we overflow with passion for the One that saved us from the oppression of sin and the death of eternal punishment. Sacrifices that uplift our fellow man are essential to our Christian walk, but without a proper heart and a repentant soul they are merely vanity. As the Psalmist cries in his prayer of salvation:

^"16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
¹⁷The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." Psalms 51:16-17 ESV