“…He is first in everything…” (Col 1:18 TLB)
Speaking about the pre-eminence of worship in a Christian’s life, a Biblical scholar put it wisely: “If prayer and praise are a preoccupation about our needs and blessings respectively, then worship is a preoccupation with God’s glory alone (read God’s goodness — SeeEx. 33:18-19).
In this series of 3 parts, my aim is to glorify our Heavenly Sire, Saviour and Sustainer by focusing on His unique attribute of being the originator of love, faith and hope in us. Oh yes, though it is generally believed that love, faith and hope are the foundation, the pillar and the roof of our Christian lives, respectively, in order to sustain that life in Christ (See 1 Cor. 13:13), a closer scrutiny of the Almighty’s working in our lives, in conformity with the Scriptures, would reveal that He is actually the Creator of this “awesome threesome” in our lives — lest we try to take any credit for birthing them within ourselves!
Love…
“So you see, our love for him comes as a result of his loving us first…” (1 John 4:19 TLB)
Firstly, on the “foundation” of the Christian life is love! It is often portrayed either in the mythological or the movie world that a hero is usually born to rule and kill villains. On the other hand, the first advent of Christ, the only hero in a Christian’s life (SeeHeb 12:1-2), was all about love-inspired serving and dying for sinners, of whom we would be the chief (Matt 20:28/John 3:16/Romans 5:10/1 Tim 1:16). The realization of the truth that we are loved not because of virtues but in spite of vices at the point of regeneration is what fills a Christian with gratitude. This, in turn, gives birth to unalloyed, Spirit-empowered love, which would be evident subsequently in many an act of reverence and charity towards the Saviour and our fellow-Christians respectively (SeeLuke 7:47/Luke 19:8/Acts 2:44-45/Acts 11:27-30/Rom 5:5/1 John 3:14-16).
Let’s resolve to always retain that “first love” (“first” again eh?) at all times and show it by way of selfless acts of love towards our Heavenly Father and our fellow brethren. As love is mostly an offshoot of gratitude, a Christian needs to daily renew his gratitude for his Saviour by prayerfully (with Holy Spirit’s help — SeeRom 8:26-27) remembering all the benefits he has received from His Divine Benefactor’s hands, not only from the point of salvation onwards, but right from his physical birth onwards. Now this is one spiritual exercise (See1 Tim. 4:8) which is guaranteed to ensure that the embers of our “First love” are stoked time and again!
Prayer: Father we love Thee because You out of your infinite love have loved us first. We pray that as we prayerfully depend upon You that our love for Thee gets renewed mightily every day. In Jesus’ Name. Amen
Suresh Manoharan
An unworthy servant
J and SM Ministries
(To access the entire “He is the FIRST in EVERYTHING!” mini-series, pleaseclick here.)