Our First Love

And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in. -Isaiah 58:12

Last week, Christ For The Nations Institute in Dallas, Texas held a 50 hour worship event on their campus. It was wonderful to see so many old faces and worship with so many former worship leaders and alumni. One of the themes talked about during this event, was the idea of re-digging old wells that had been dug many years ago. We can trace back so many of the blessings we walk in today to pioneers of faith in previous generations. Truly we stand on the shoulders of the faithful of bygone years. I’m so thankful for the prayers, faith, and sacrifices of previous generations of Christians. It causes me to consider my own life. How tragic it would be if I, or any of us, take for granted the blessings we walk in and fail to realize our own responsibility to not only re-dig the water wells of previous times, but dig our own wells that will be a blessing to future generations. Digging wells takes time, effort, and perseverance. Digging wells moves us from the selfishness of quick blessings here and now, to thinking generationally. God is a God of generations. Yes, His blessings are for us individually, here and now, but a truly “blessed life” is one that impacts future generations…long after we who are alive today are gone.
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Secondly, I was reminded that, not only should we take care to re-dig the spiritual wells of the past, but that we should, with renewed strength and determination of heart and mind, focus on our true love…our first love…Jesus. What good does any “ministry” do if our hearts are not first and foremost focused on the One for Whom we live and breathe and have our very being in the first place? It is for Him that we live. Worship is not about singing songs, it is about spending intimate time in the Presence of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. May we never get so caught up in doing good, that we forget our first love.