2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.

We work so hard for God. We work so diligently for our churches. We toil endlessly for our households, friends, family, neighbors, etc. Most of us report to some type of formal profession each day in addition to raising families, pursuing higher education or maintaining more than one job. We are a society consumed by achievement, no doubt about it…we teach our children that they can be anything they want to be..as we should. We should all dare to dream and achieve after all, isn’t that the very fiber of our great nation?

I believe the Lord wants us to work hard, to wear many different hats and to do all things to the best of our ability. But even more than achieving these things I believe He calls us to remember and strive to attain the greatest achievement of all…to love the Lord your God with all your mind, all your soul and all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5). God sees all that we do and all we do not do and in the midst of all we purpose to achieve we mustn’t neglect to purpose our hearts to love our Father.

As I grow older it amazes me how quickly a year passes. Seemingly in the twinkling of an eye. It amazes me further to realize how busy I am and how I seem to become busier with each moment. Within these reflections I must admit that I sometimes long for the days when I had no clue what Kingdom WORK meant. Because work is just what the name implies…work! And working for the Kingdom carries with it an urgency all its own.

As another New Year approaches I am confident that God is calling His children to get His house in order. I am confident that God is calling us to remember the day when we loved first and served second. I am confident that the Lord is calling us to remember that we are creations of love and therefore created to love. I am thoroughly convinced that God loves and appreciates us for the honest work we put in and the results that manifest. But I am just as convinced that God is watching us and gently whispering to our hearts…beloved children I created you for my pleasure and nothing pleases me more than to feel your love and to hear you say I love you Father. God is calling us to remember that love is what transpired as He walked with Adam by the cool of the day. God is calling us to remember that love is the foundation for His house. God is charging us to recall that He is love and we are able to love only because He first loved us (author paraphrase of I John 4:19). God is charging us to remember to love him with the same diligence, endurance and tirelessness that we devote to the many achievements we aspire to accomplish.

As we come to the close of this year and welcome a New Year let us continue with our deeds. Let us all continue to press forward and do as much as we can and as much as we are called to do to build God’s Kingdom. Let us speak to mountains, stand on faith, and serve our homes, families, friends and churches. But above all let us remember our first love and calling. Let the church…the entire body of Christ…remember the love of God and Christ as we usher in the New Year. And let that love shape our service, mold our commitments and redirect our dedication and re-energize all we do in the name of the Lord. Let us all turn (repent) and actively pursue the catalyst that brought us to God in the first place…His pure love for us and the love we were compelled to return.

© 2009, Tonya. All rights reserved.