Let’s Keep Our Focus on Christ

“If you love Me, keep my commandments.”  John 14:15

We obey God because we love Him and not to earn His love.  He loves us because He chooses to love us.  He is love, and it is His nature to love His creation.  When a baby comes into a family, whether by birth or adoption, we love that baby.  He or she hasn’t done anything to earn our love.  We just love him or her with all of our heart.  God loves us in the same way.  He doesn’t love us more when we are obedient, and neither does He love us any less when we are disobedient.  God is not mad at us.  We can do nothing so bad that He will stop loving us.  His desire for our obedience is so that He can bless us and so that we can be a blessing to others.  Also, obedience to the Lord honors Him.

Disobedience can lead to a loss of blessings and sometimes suffering, but the suffering is a call to return to our “first love”.  In Revelation 2:1-7, the Apostle John, under the instruction of the Lord Jesus, wrote to the church at Ephesus and, first of all, praised them for their diligence in the work that they were doing, for their patience, and for their efforts at ridding the church of false teachers.  Even with all the good they were doing for each other and the community, there was one major thing they had neglected, and that was that they had lost their first love.  In other words, in their zeal to serve and do good works, they had lost their focus on the One whom they were serving.  What they were doing had become more important than Who they were to be worshipping.  The church folks didn’t intend to be disobedient in putting other things first before the Lord; they just lost track in their busyness.  It became all about meetings, committees, projects, mission trips, raising funds, and other time-consuming deeds rather than just being quiet before the Lord.  It didn’t happen all at once, rather, it was a gradual slipping away from their original focus.  That’s how most believers end up walking at a guilty distance from the Lord.

I am reminded of what happens in a Christian’s life as he or she travels down life’s highway of some smooth roads yet a lot of bumps and potholes.  When a person first receives Christ as his or her Lord and Savior, there is a real feeling of euphoria, knowing that sins are forgiven and heaven is the final destination.  However, it doesn’t take the devil long to start hassling the new Christian, causing him or her to doubt.  Satan also lays down all kinds of roadblocks to confuse and hinder the immature Christian (and some matures ones as well) in his or her walk with the Lord.  Bible study and prayer get pushed aside because of other priorities.  The Christian still loves Jesus, but he or she just doesn’t have time to spend with Him.  However, there are others who become overburdened with serving others and doing church work that they neglect the One for whom they are serving.  Perhaps they believe that they must work like this to gain God’s acceptance when they already have it by grace.

Jesus offers a three step process for returning to one’s first love.  1.) Remember what it was like in the beginning of one’s life in Christ–the happiness, zeal, and love for others that permeated one’s thoughts and actions, the closeness to Jesus and the strength received from Him which gave a boldness to live for and witness of Him. 2.) Repent.  To repent is to come into agreement with the Lord’s view of one’s sin and then making a conscious decision to turn from sin, placing the power to do so in God’s hands. 3.) Return Christ to the throne of one’s heart, His rightful place in every Christian’s life.  By reclaiming our focus on Christ, we show Him that we love Him.  Our God-given potential is manifested in an obedient, God-centered life.