Twenty years! Our daughter and son-in-law are celebrating their anniversary today. We are so proud of them for hanging in there. I remember when they became engaged. Their love and joy was evident, and they had fun making plans and experiencing life together. After all these years, though they’ve had struggles at times, they are still very much in love.
So many couples, once married, lose that first love and become disengaged after a few years. Individual pursuits, the stress of life, and busyness all take their toll, and suddenly there are two strangers instead of an intimate couple. It is hard to move forward together when the engagement is forgotten.
This happens in our spiritual lives too. At first when we first meet God, we are enthralled and become eagerly engaged in His service. Somewhere along the line, we lose that spark. Instead of being one with Him in love and purpose, we head off on our own. The challenges of life distract us from His presence. We are still Christians, but are no longer enthusiastically in relationship to Him. This shows in our actions and desires.
The characteristics of engagement—the love, the passion, the joy, and the devotion—need to be revived. We cannot engage in service with our church, our community or our world unless we resurrect the qualities of our engagement with Jesus. The most important pursuit is remaining in His presence and being totally in love with Him.
“You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.” (Revelation 2: 3-5)
Let us return to our first love. Let us be engaged to Jesus all over again.