Return to Me
MUSIC BLOG
08-01-2024
Return to Me
Isaiah 55:7
Let the wicked abandon his way, And the unrighteous person his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
Remember a time in your life when you could spend an afternoon, flat on your back in the grass, watching the clouds and guessing what the cloud formations were? Remember when you could spend all day on your bike and if you were in the house by dusk your mom didn’t worry? Do you remember when you hurried to get done with your chores so that you could go outside and play? If you do, then I bet you had something that was your first love.
My first love was reading. I loved to get a book and start it and finish it in a day. I remember the first time I read a book with 300 pages in a day. I loved getting lost in the story, in the location and in the era the book was written. One of my first big books was “Kidnapped” by Robert Louis Stevenson. It was the tale of a young man, with no money and no prospects who suffered outrageous atrocities only to discover that he was the heir of a vast fortune. I still remember the writing to this day and the word pictures that Mr. Stevenson gave us, as the hero had to walk up the tower with the unfinished stairs in the rain. He had to wait for lightning flashes to help him maneuver the many missing stairs in the tall tower stairwell.
I continued to love reading and still do, however, in my life now, I don’t always make time for reading like I should. I read my bible, and a few things for work, but truthfully, I don’t read for pleasure or inspiration like I should. Maybe this is a thing I need to take another look at.
Even though I haven’t left reading behind, it is not my current passion. My life would be richer and simpler if I re-established the daily reading habit. So, why don’t I? Good question, that’s an excellent question. To re-establish reading as a passion, I would have to change some things in my current life. I would have to make reading a priority. My life is full now. For me to add new something, would necessitate deleting another thing: T.V. watching, Facebook, social media, and other distractions. Isaiah and our risen LORD were saying something to their audience along these lines. Isaiah was pleading with the Israelites to return to the Lord. Jesus was admonishing the church at Ephesus they had left their first love. From firsthand experience, I can testify that these groups of people weren’t sitting on their hands twiddling their thumbs. They were industrious and busy folk. They had jobs and families. They were prosperous. They were religious, but they both had left their first love. Coming to this knowledge is just the first step. Correcting this creates a problem. If one’s life is already full, how can one make room for Jesus?
God works in mysterious and wonderful ways. It may be that while reading this blog the Holy Spirit is nudging you to make a course correction. Call to me, while I can be found is the clarion call of the Spirit of Jesus. I will not always strive with man is another. If God is at work, choose to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. Do not grieve the spirit by choosing to wait for a more convenient time, Now is the time of salvation.
Blessings as you seek to make Jesus FIRST this day,
Marty