Step Three: Return to your first love

In Step One you confessed your sins and received God’s forgiveness. In Step Two you forgave others. Think about that state of grace for a moment. The limitless grace of Christ has covered everything . . . completely.

I recently heard someone say, “God calls the disqualified.” That’s biblical: Peter denied Jesus at His moment of greatest need, Paul persecuted Christians, both Moses and David committed murder. Rahab had been a prostitute but became an ancestor of the Messiah. Every one of them had their greatest victories after times of deep failure.

God calls the disqualified. That means you are not limited by your past.

One of the great impediments to love is feeling unworthy. But Jesus says that he who has been forgiven much, loves much (Luke 7:41–50). So Step Three is this: Return to your first love. Return to your first love for Jesus. And how do you do that?

Focus on Jesus. Worship. Celebrate. Remember what it was like when you first knew Him – and return to that. You could begin a new habit: Kneel to pray, or pray out loud, or sing a worship song before your Bible reading.

He is the source of living water. He came to set you free. The woman in Luke 7 broke her alabaster jar and poured the ointment inside over Jesus’ feet. Jesus said all her sins were forgiven – it didn’t matter that there were many of them. In fact, He said that knowing how much she was forgiven made her love Him even more. He held her up as an example of how to love Him. Then He said to her, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

May 2015 be a year of great peace in CBWOQ. May we know the deep security of being completely forgiven and have deep love for Christ as a result.