WHO OR WHAT IS YOUR FIRST LOVE?

In this month of love, who is it that you would profess your love to? Who is your first love? The sin of the church of Ephesus was that they left their first love. Revelation 2:4. Have you left your first love?

The first and most important commandment is: “You shall love the lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” Jesus termed this commandment the most important of all. It therefore means that our first love is God.

A lot of our brothers have gone astray chasing after material possessions, positions in the society and money. These things they now love so much to the neglect of their first love, and still hope in vain that God will be with them, that He will answer their prayers. God ask Ezekiel: “Son of Man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let Myself be inquired of at all by them?” God went ahead to say that those that do that will be made a sign and a proverb in order to ensure others don’t go astray.

Why chase after these worldly possessions when it is yours by right? In Ephesians 1:3 the bible tells us that we have already been blessed in the heavenly realm. This means that, as a kingdom citizen, you are already blessed and a blessing. Whatever you do will blossom; you need not make them your idol and love them more than your God.

Seek first the Kingdom by loving and doing His will and you shall have all you ever wanted, by simply asking Him for it. Romans 8:28 tells us that “And we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God…” So, why love all these things, when loving only God would open the door to all other things for your pleasure?

If you love wife/husband, money, house and any other material possession more than God, you are not worthy of the Kingdom, and the Kingdom will reject you in the last day.  Go back to your first love and you shall begin to experience divine fruitfulness in every area of your life.

Jesus said “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you, abide in my love.” Chose to love God and abide in His love and all things shall work for your lifting in Jesus name. Amen.

IS DIVORCE A SIN?

Much of the world no longer takes God’s words seriously. Most people claim to be Christians but inwardly are serving other gods of their own desire. As Jesus said; they serve God with their lips but their hearts is far away from him. They deliberately disobey Him and then come out to say He is a merciful God, full of compassion and ever willing to forgive. They assume they could therefore deliberately continue in their sin and still make heaven, because God always forgives. As Apostle Paul said; God forbid that we should we continue in sin that grace abounds.

One of the ways Christians are disobeying God is through divorce. Jesus instructions on divorce are very clear, yet Christians blatantly flout it and then go to church the next day to sing hallelujah to the King. Who are you deceiving?

In Matthew 5:32-33 Jesus said “It hath been said, whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement, but I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committed adultery.

It’s now common to hear some people say ‘I no longer love my wife’. Each time I hear this statement, I marvel, in that the bible recorded that while we are yet in sin, Jesus came and died, so we might be redeemed to God the father. But for whatever selfish reason, some people will choose to divorce their wife. To love the wife unconditionally as Christ loves us, goes out the window. The bible says; ..’In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

Since God did not sanction divorce, why are Christians involved in it in direct violation of Jesus’ commands? The bible says the soul that sin shall die. Divorce is a sin and those involved may spend their eternity in hell. I therefore urge those considering divorce to go to God in prayers for a solution to whatever marital challenges they may be going through.

In order to prevent and eliminate the chances of divorce, those looking for their life partner should ask themselves these questions before going to the altar:

• If I were to discover a dark secret about the person I am about to get married to, what will be my reaction?
• What if the person turns out to be a pathological liar, a thief, a womanizer etc?
• What if the person has an accident and is amputated as a result?
• Will I be willing to love him or her unconditionally until death?

While it may be easy to live with and love someone that is amputated as result of accident, it may not be very easy to live with a thief. I would therefore urge the following for every Christian:

1. Pray and personally have God’s leading before going to the altar.
2. Find out all you could about your partner before proposing or accepting a marriage proposal.
3. Do not think you could change your partner’s bad habit after marriage if God did not expressly say so.

The bible told us that he, who finds a wife, finds a good thing and obtains favour from the Lord. Since God intends marriage to be a blessing, Christians must work in love as we journey together in our marriage, obtaining God’s favour and grace in all that pertains to our home and marriage.

My prayer for all married couple out there is that you shall enjoy your marriage and obtain the favours promised by the King of kings and Lord of lords.