Love Grown Cold

It is common in relationships to see what once had been fervent passion in the beginning slowly fade and grow cold, sometimes to the extent that there seems to be nothing left of what once burned so brightly. It can happen in many different scenarios; passion over sports, clothes, bands, marriage, work. If no work is done to keep the fire alive, no matter what we are passionate about, it will eventually fade. What does this mean for our faith?

Mark 4:3-8 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

“Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”

This is a parable Jesus told. The Sower is God, the seed is His message of salvation and the ground is all of humanity. Some do not accept the message at all, or it does not reach them before satan snatches it away. Others have hard times, they passionately hear the word, but soon forget or turn away when life gets hard. Some take it in gladly, but the worry of the world keeps it from producing any fruit in their lives. The last are those who receive the Word passionately, and are able to keep that passion alive so that it produces good fruit.

The second and third examples show those who first come to love God, but that love is allowed to grow cold because of hardship or worldly concerns. They think that life should be easier, or care too much about superficial things in this life and not enough about the eternal things of the next.

This can happen to any of us. It is so easy to get caught up in day to day life. When we are first saved, we are often so passionate about God, so overcome with Him that we can’t stop talking about Him, and that is all we think about. But soon, real life kicks in and we forget. We lose that fervor. Heaven seems so far away that we lose sight of what is important. Other things, even good things, begin to take priority in our lives and we allow our time with God to be put off and shortened until it no longer exists. It becomes something we do out of duty rather than love and therefore makes no impact on our lives. Our hearts become entangled with the world so that God only has a portion rather than all. We lose sight of our first love, and instead love many other things as well.

Revelation 2:3-5 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.

This is a stark warning given by Jesus in the book of Revelation. This church was doing all the right things, living the good Christian life, even enduring persecution, but their love had grown cold. They worked out of duty rather than love. The world had taken God’s place.

Don’t let this be your fate. Don’t let your love grow cold. Stay true to God. Keep that passion alive by pursuing God and daily ask Him to keep that fire strong.