“A man walked into a bar…He had to get eight stitches because he forgot to duck….You thought I was going to tell you a joke about a man going into a bar to drink, but it is all about perspective.”
This line was spoken at a Mantour Conference a few years ago. The speaker was making the point that it is all about our perspective and what our minds are trained to do.
As I pondered these words, my mind started thinking about how we, as men, have lost our perspective when it comes to the things of God.
-I have to go to church.
-I have to read the Bible.
-I have to pray.
-I have to go to the men’s small group.
-I have to tithe.
These are the words and thoughts of so many men as they try to develop a spiritual walk around everything else that presses us in life. God’s men have lost perspective. We have come down with a bad case of the “have to’s.” In reality, we should be thinking:
-I get to go to church today and worship God with other believers.
-I get to read the thoughts and words of God in the Bible.
-I get to pray to the God Who saved me and set me free.
-I get to go to men’s small group and develop relationships with other men.
-I get to show my appreciation to God for allowing me to keep 90% of His money by giving back 10% to Him.
We have lost our perspective. Think about it. You never had the “have to’s” when you first got saved. You were excited. You were thankful. You had a good old-fashioned case of the “get to’s.” So how did the “get to’s” turn into the “have to’s?”
To find the answer, we are going to flip to the back of the Bible and look at the book of Revelations.
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. (Revelation 2:2-3, ESV)
This passage in Revelation shows us that the church in Ephesus was a model church. They held to solid doctrine, didn’t tolerate any sin among their believers, and they faced and overcame much persecution. They did good works and served the Lord faithfully. Sounds like a model fellowship.
However, they had one problem.
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 2:4-5, ESV)
The church in Ephesus had forgotten their first love. They had lost the joy they had when they first got saved and began following God. The years of ministry and serving God mixed with persecution and church issues left them serving out of a sense of duty, not love and relationship with God. They had a bad case of the “have to’s.” The passion, the fire, the joy they had when they first came to God was gone.
How many of us fall into the same boat as these people at Ephesus? We would do well to ask ourselves, “How far have I fallen?”
Do we focus more on the service than spending time with the One we serve? If so, how do we fix it? How do we get back to our First Love? How do we rediscover the “get to’s”? How do we get our perspective fixed again? Thankfully, the passage in Revelations gives us the answers.
First, consider how far you have fallen.
Stop and remember what your life was like when you first got saved. How did you feel? What did you do? How much time did you spend in prayer? Did you have a passion for reading the Bible? Do you remember the excitement you felt?
Do you recall the trust you had in God? Remember how praise welled up inside of you? Stop and reflect on the weeks and the months after you first came to Christ and see if you still are the same.
Has your love and passion dwindled?
Reflection is step one to getting back to your first love.
Next, you need to repent.
We have to ask God to forgive us for getting so busy doing for Him that we lost sight of our great opportunity of being with Him.
Ask Him to forgive you for seeing time spent with Him as something you have to do. Ask Him to forgive you for not being as sold out, on fire, and hungry for Him. We need to realize our sins and ask Him to forgive and restore us.
Finally, reverse course and do the things you did at the beginning.
We must return to pursuing God in our lives wholeheartedly. We need the passion restored. We should ask God to restore the joy we once had.
King David prayed an excellent prayer we can all pray. He prayed, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit." (Psalms 51:10-12, ESV)
Notice that this prayer is a petition to God to restore the joy of his salvation, the first love he had lost. He wanted God to restore him to where he was before falling. This is an excellent example for all of us to follow.
God longs for His children to get back to the first love they had when they first came to Him. He wants our relationship with Him to be as passionate and exciting as the day we knelt at the altar. He waits for us to realize we have fallen away from it. He is waiting for us to repent for allowing our hearts to grow cold, and He is waiting with His arms open wide for us to be restored to where we once were. He wants us to have a relationship with Him.
Men, we must analyze ourselves and see if we have lost our first love. Then, we need to follow Jesus’ command in Revelations and return to where we were before we fell away.
We get to do it today!
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