PrintRecovering That "First Love"(1)
A good friend of mine wrote to me recently and, among other things, he said this about his Christian life,
"I keep saying to myself in terms of spiritual life and spirituality generally, "there must be more than this". I long to fall into worship as I did in my younger and early ministry experience. I long to pray for people and hear the Spirit's voice. I long to know the presence of God in an uncomplicated and unsophisticated way, to be able to go to Church and it be a place of refuge from the world and to be able to engage in the process of LIFE".
I must admit that his honesty struck a chord with me. There is a hunger in his heart to recover or return to that depth of intimacy with God that he has known in former times…. a quality of relationship that is now part of his history rather than a present reality. I must say that I share the same kind of hunger in my life, too.
I recall one season of life in particular when an encounter with God set my life and ministry on a whole new path. I was infused with a new love for my Lord. It was as if I had found "romance" again. Worship took on a whole new meaning. Prayer seemed more real and effective. Life had a new purpose. Ministry as a Pastor was more focused and fulfilling.
But that was then. This is now. But 'now' wants to know what happened to 'then'?
Somewhere in my long term memory there are the words from an old hymn that asked the question,
"Where is the joy that once I knew when first I met the Lord?" (or words to that effect).
So it would seem that my friend and I are not alone as we lament the loss of those former days. It would also seem that such an experience of loss is not unique to our generation because the author of that hymn belongs to a generation quite some time ago. In fact, such an experience of what feels like spiritual 'decline' seems to be a fact in generations of Christians right back to Biblical times.
But more of that in my next log entry.
