Grace ~ Our First Love

I heard of the gospel of Christ and how He died on the cross for my sins and I believed. The moment I believed, I was saved. I was saved not because I had done a lot of good works. I was saved not because I had obeyed all the requirements stated in the Ten Commandments. No, I know nothing about Ten Commandments then. I was saved because I was a sinner. I was saved by His grace, through the faith He gave me.

As a new convert, I was full of His love and grace and I was enjoying Jesus everyday. Man, it’s wonderful to be a Christian. I was in love with Jesus because He first loved me. The transformation in my life was significant because I was a new creation and the old has gone. Since I was a new creation, I was basically made new, not modified. None of my effort was involved.

As I grew in the Lord, I was introduced to the laws and regulations because we believed that laws basically tell us what we can do and what we cannot do. The laws are very clear and we could not go wrong with it and after all, they are from the bible and was in God's heart because the law was placed in the Ark!...??? That was how the leaders in the church reminded the young converts.

Well, as a young Christian, I was zealous for God but my zeal was not based on knowledge and I did not know then, that was the beginning of my nightmare. Jesus said in Matthews 4:17 ~ “Repent, the Kingdom of heaven is near!”. But for me, it was, “Repent, your nightmare is near!”

In order to be an obedient and simple hearted Christian, I listened to man and left my first love for that set of rule and regulation. Every thing was dry and lifeless then. Whenever there were altar calls for those who were "cold" in the Lord for “fresh baptism of fire” from heaven, “fresh commitment” for back-sliding Christians, I was there. Fasting, praying, to seek my first love but to no avail.

Galatians 5:4 ~ You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

After two years of struggling in my Christian life (the first year was honeymoon year), the Lord’s love and grace touched me again at my very worst spiritual condition through a message recorded in cassette tape. I heard of how much the Lord loved me and the message reminded me of the aroma that I remembered when I was saved. I believed what the preacher preached and I repented (change my mind). I repented from my death work and started trusting in Him again. It was Grace, the undeserved, unmerited favor of God that brought me back to His love again.

By the grace of God, I know what the First Love is now. It is the dependence of His grace alone, no legalism, no law abiding, no self effort, not seeking our own righteousness, not obedient to man but obedient to faith. Can you understand me? I began to receive my revelation on grace when I started to disobey man... Can you believe that?

The grace of God opens me up to a deeper revelation of who Jesus is, the understanding of truth that are hidden in the Word of God as if there are “subways” underneath the bible verses joining the truth together. I am more obedient than before and obedient with the knowledge of God.

First Love is divine in it origins. We cannot produce it, we simply receive and respond to it. I have found my First Love again. Have you?