What was your first love?  Maybe it was a:

• Car, or

• A boat, or

• A boy or girl

My first love was a girl in middle school – and in fact I’m reminded of it occassionally by my family.  You see I was walking home with her from school – probably holding hands or something scandalous like that – and around the corner comes my father in his pick up truck with my brother and brother-in-law (the heckler).

They started “hooting and hollering” at me – and it didn’t stop – no when I got home you might imagine that there was some teasing that took place.

And even to this day I will occassionally still hear about it.

First love, hmmm, do you remember yours?

There is another kind of first love – the kind where there is something, or someone, that you love “first” – that you love above all else.

Now I’m not talking about Ice Cream, or those little Italian cookies you can get especially this time of year; no I’m talking about a different kind of “first love”.

The kind you pay attention to – take for example buying a gift:

• Tonight have a gift for each of you – I do!

• But I know you won’t be offended when I tell you I spent more time thinking about what to get my wife Beth then I spent thinking about what to get you (Let’s hope I got it right for Beth).

• Beth takes priority, doesn’t she?

The “first love” takes the ultimate priority – and so I have a single thought for you tonight, just one:

• You and me, we are God’s first love!

• Let me say that again – the single thought for tonight that I pray you will walk away from this service with is – YOU ARE GOD’S FIRST LOVE.

• You are His highest priority – that is what the birth of Jesus into our world tells us.

You might ask, “How, how, can I, Father Dave, possibly know that we are God’s first love?”

Two ways really: first just look around and observe the way the earth, the universe, and more, how it all works – it works to one end – that you and I are alive – that we can live and see it and wonder in it.

The second way is that God comes into this world, not full of power, but in a risky humble way – as a baby.

The Scriptures put it this way:

⁹ God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:9-10 (NRSV)

God’s love is real love, it isn’t some “gooey 6^th grade feeling” – no real love is expressed in three ways:

• Commitment,

• Intimacy, and

• Passion.

Real love is Commitment and says “I will stick with you” – or as the Scriptures say, “I will never leave you or forsake you” – that is God talking to us. Heb 13:5.

Real love is Intimacy and says “I know you in the deepest way” – or as the Scriptures say, “I knew you when you were formed in your mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13

Real love is Passion and says “My love for you is so real, so deep, that even if it costs me everything I will give it” – or as the Scriptures put it, “¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command.” John 15:13-14 (NIV)

Over and over again the Bible tells us the story and shows us the heart of God – over and over it reveals that:

YOU ARE GOD’S FIRST LOVE.

And it is not just the Bible that tells this story, think about your own lives.  Take a moment and reflect:

• In what specific way has God shown His commitment to you?  I know your lives haven’t been perfect, I know you have known hardship – but in what way has God shown His commitment to you?

• How has He shown His intimacy with you?  What specific episodes in your life has God spoken with you, or you’ve felt His presence, or known He was with you?

• How about His passion?  How have you known and experienced God’s passion for you?

Christmas proclaims to us that YOU ARE GOD’S FIRST LOVE.

And the wonderful thing about Christmas, the celebration of God coming to earth, is that because God came to earth as a baby – that we can love God back:

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 (NRSV)

Tonight I pray you will experience God’s love:

• And you will think about your Commitment to God – how might you increase it, how might you love God more,

• I pray you will think about how Intimate your relationship with God is – what thoughts or hopes or dreams might you share with God – maybe even tonight.

• I pray that as you love God back that your Passion for Him will grow.

“First Loves”:

My 6^th grade “first love” is a funny quaint story nowadays, but God’s love for you – IT’S FIRST – THERE IS NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT TO GOD THAN YOU.

Let’s pray.