When I began high school in the early 80’s I fell in love with the electric guitar. Actually, I have memories of making handmade electric guitars out of cardboard when I was about eight and pretending to jam out with a friend. After nagging my parents continually they finally bought me an electric guitar and an amp. I’m pretty sure they regret that decision because I played constantly and played loud. I just loved playing and learning new things. After high school my favorite thing to do was to set up in a large empty space and create with a few other musicians. My dream was to be in a band and tour around playing gigs. I loved it!
Over time, however, my love of guitar faded. I just wasn’t making the time for it. Other things became more important. Eventually, because I was neglecting the guitar so much, I didn’t even have it set up. I packed it away and at one point even gave away my guitars. Without a guitar in the home I fell even further from it. I went so long without playing that I forgot much of what I had learned and lost coordination to play. I fell out of love.
Occasionally, I’d be somewhere and hear someone playing the electric guitar in a way that stirred me. For a brief moment I would be flooded with inspiration and a desire to get back into playing. But the desire flew away quickly once I was back home and realized I don’t even have a guitar, I don’t have money to buy a guitar, I don’t have time to play guitar and I don’t have any place to play guitar.
During the pandemic I decided to dive back in with all my heart. I bought an old Gretsch hollow body, a Supro tube amp and a few pedals. I started doing what I did when I first fell in love with playing: I listened to the great mid-century blues masters and played daily. It didn’t take long before I remembered the thrill of playing and was renewed in love.
Fading love
My fading love for guitar is similar to how our love for Christ can fade. Many of us, even if we grew up in the faith, have memories of our early days when we really began to fall in love with God. Our faces were glowing with joy. We loved to worship in the church. Tears of gratitude often streamed down our cheeks in our times of private prayer. The very air around us seemed charged with the life of God. We couldn’t get enough. We consumed the Word of God like a hungry teenager consumes a bag of chips.
But then life happens. Stress, struggles, temptations, failures, boredom and distractions choke out the strong love for the Lord we had. We get away from it. Occasionally, we remember and are stirred but the feeling dissipates like the morning dew. This happened to God’s people frequently in the Word. It happened to both the Israelites in the Old Testament and Christians in the New Testament. Consider what God said through Jeremiah:
Thus says the LORD, "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest. — Jeremiah 2:2-3
In this and other passages in the Scriptures, you can almost hear the hurt of the Lord. He sounds like a lovesick husband grieving over a wife who won’t come home. He’s remembering their devotion and longing to restore them. Much of the book of Jeremiah is the Lord urging His people to return to Him.
I’ve met very few Christians who would say that their walk with God has been one of steady growth every day since the start. Even the best Christians seem to get off track and let their love grow cold. Our hearts are prone to wander, to leave the God we love, as the hymn says. How can we get back our first love?
What Jesus says
Jesus does not leave us in the dark about this because He longs to renew our love. In the book of Revelation Jesus speaks a message to seven different churches. One of the mini sermons speaks directly to what I’m talking about. Jesus says,
I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. — Revelation 2:2-5
There’s a lot to unpack here but I want to zero in on the instruction of Jesus on how to be restored. These are devout believers and Jesus commends them sweetly for their wonderful qualities but then the words “but I have this against you” come like a record needle scratched off the edge of the record. The Lord tells them they have abandoned the love for Him they once had. I think if Jesus said this to me it would crush me. It would be hard to bear. How could we not just start weeping after being so loved by Him that He gave His very life for us?
Jesus basically says this: remember what you used to do, stop doing what you are doing and get back to doing the stuff you used to do. That’s my paraphrase of course. His actual words were:
Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.
Herein lies the wisdom we need to return to the vibrant love for God we had in our early days. Remember how you used to live. Remember how you spent your time and how you felt. Remember how crazy you were for Christ and unashamed. Jesus then says, “Repent,” which means to change your mind. Stop sinning. Cut the cord. Turn around and go the opposite way. Do a 180! And lastly, he says, “Do the works you did at first.” The word “works” throws us off a bit but I think Jesus is just referring to our lifestyle. Spend your time, energy and money the way you did when you loved God most.
When we drift from our first love we sometimes get stuck there treading water by believing that there’s nothing we can really do. We get numb and secretly think “it is what it is.” We want to get back but we tell ourselves the dangerous half-truth that “only God can restore me.” Days turn into weeks, weeks into months, months into years—but nothing changes. Notice Jesus isn’t telling them that only God can restore them. Rather, He is commanding them to return. My friend, if you have abandoned your first love know that God is ready and eager to restore. He’s waiting for you. Come back.