This lesson application and journaling prompt is based on the devotional Seek First: How to Receive God’s Best for Your Life. You can read the other lessons on Day 2, Day 3, or Day 4 if you missed them.
Ah, love. Love is the most powerful feeling in the universe. Some may argue that it’s hatred or fear, but we know the truth. Love is all-powerful because God Himself is love. It’s the nature of His being and the substance of His goodness for us.
Have you ever been in love?
Did you maybe act a little weird? Did your friends roll their eyes at your cute nicknames for each other and accept they wouldn’t see you for Netflix and pizza for the next year? If you’re like most people saturated in those fluffy feelings of early love, you couldn’t stop thinking about your sweetheart.
You floated through your day dreaming about white picket fences and adopting pugs. You learned everything you could about Sweetheart: his favorite food, how he combs his hair, his mom’s uncle’s brother-in-law’s birthday, his beloved sweatshirt from college (which was also the last time he washed it). You spent hours on the phone together when you’re weren’t on dates or eye gazing in front of a crackling fire.
King David knew this love:
O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.
Psalm 63:1-5
Ah, love. Did your love for Jesus once look like that? As a new believer, perhaps you thought about Him constantly, reveling in His love for you. You felt blessed beyond measure that He saved you and you were His.
You looked forward to a joyful life with Jesus. You pored through His word to learn about Him: His favorite qualities in a loyal servant, what made His mom’s great-something-grandfather a man after God’s own heart, how He combs the craggy hillside for one lost sheep. You spent hours praying, reading, worshiping – seeking Jesus with joy.
In time, those lofty feelings settle down into a comfortable relationship. A bond that grows deeper and stronger. But if we’re not careful, we forget to seek. We replace the joy of seeking with the routine of tasks. We manage “all these things” but the connection to Christ fades.
The danger is that we lose the relationship in the relentless pursuit of what we can see: we read our Bible today. Check. We went to church this week. Check. We prayed for five minutes. Check.
In Revelation 2: 4-5 Jesus lamented the loveless, routine-based relationship with one early church;
Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place – unless you repent.
Revelation 2:4-5
Our first love wants us back.
Seek God with joy as you did when your love was new.
As you seek God, ask yourself: What does God care about? Relationship. Connection. Love what God loves. Learn His heart again. Pray heart-to-heart in the depth of our frail human needs, but don’t forget the ordinary beauty of everyday chats: “Lord, the was a good looking sunset. Thank you.”
Seeking God is the secret to joy. And remember, just as the path of the cross led to the resurrection, the pursuit of God leads to His heart: love.