Back to Our First Love

And he journeyed from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place where he had made an altar at the first; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord. (Gen. 13:3-4)

Gen. 13:1-4, 12:1-3 and 10-20; Jer. 2:2; Matt. 24:12-13; Rev. 2:3-5

What Is God Saying?

At Shechem and then at Bethel, God told Abraham he had arrived. Not that his journey of faith was ending. There was still much to do and many tests of faith, but he had come to the place God had in mind. Typically, he built an altar to the Lord (12:8). It symbolized faith, joy, and commitment. It was Abraham saying, ‘This is it. This calls for celebration. God was true to His word. I will be true to mine. This is holy ground. To God be the glory.’ Every stone was laid with the inexpressible glow of first love.

Then the scene shifts. Because of a famine, Abraham went down to Egypt. He got rich. He acquired cattle, gold, and silver, all the world associates with a clever and lucky person, but it was not without a compromise in moral integrity and essential honesty. (Gen. 12:10-20) By the mercy of God, he came through the crisis, and he knew where to go to express his thankfulness. God was with him in the far country of cowardice and compromise. God would meet and bless him again if he returned to his first altar at Bethel and renewed his first love there. God would. God did.

How Does This Apply To Us?

And God still does! Even in seasons of affluence and success, we know that true wealth lies in another direction. We know that God has a better life for us, which is more fulfilling, productive, and meaningful. We cannot depend on material well-being and wealth destroyed by the whims of fortune and the actions of others. God has a better way. To discover it, we need to go back to our first love, to the God who loved us then, to the God who loves us now, to the God who will love us forever, to the God of our early and uncomplicated faith, to the God of Bethel.

Pray With Me

Loving Father, Your arms are always open to receive the returning prodigal. Your love never changes. It is like the ocean. Forgive me that my love toward You is changeful.

My first love was without compromise. You had my heart, my whole heart. There were no rivals. My first faith was without doubt or fear. Where Your Spirit led, I followed. What Your Word said, I did. My first altar was a place of beautiful worship. There were no other gods before You. Indeed, there were no other gods. That is the way it was at first.

Then I wandered. I turned elsewhere for strength. Through fear and carelessness, I allowed other altars to be crowded into my heart. Now, gracious and loving Lord, bring me back from a place of compromise to the Bethel of my first love, faith, and altar. Then I will praise You as I ought to praise You.

Then I will love you as I ought to love you. I will see you again as I ought to see you, almighty and loving, holy and forgiving. How wonderful it is to know that my love is all that you ask.

Through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.

Moving On In The Life of Prayer

Every time we pray, it is a return to Bethel. In prayer, the fog of compromise is lifted. The pollution of mixed motives is washed away. The web of entangling loyalties is cut cleanly through. We are free to listen, speak, and start over. We are free to become what God wanted us to be when we met Him in that moment of first love.

Prayer is saying, I can be reached at Bethel. This is my actual address. This is where I belong.