[JJ]

Originally Posted by aron

Great observation. The greatest commandment is to love the Father God with all our heart and soul and strength, and the second is like the first, to love your neighbour as yourself.

Those both are arguably the "first love". In the LC we got "we just love Jesus"... I saw teen-age girls burst into tears because they loved the Lord. Sounds good, right? But "we just love Jesus" became "Christ and the Church". So we love the Church, now. Right away you can see where this is going. The so-called minister has gotten the Church to look away from her (supposed) first love and to look at herself. Now "The Church loves the Church" and is dependent upon the so-called minister to reveal the Church (herself!!) to her. She becomes a vain harlot staring in the mirror. "I sit a Queen and lack nothing". No love.

But Jesus showed the way to love God: love your neighbor. "When I was sick you visited me" … "Lord, when did we visit you?"... "When you visited these the least of my brothers"... in other words, the neighbor that Jesus put you next to! If you really love Jesus you will love your neighbor!!

Instead we got "love the Church" which meant "closely following the ministry" and despising our neighbor who couldn't be "one with the brothers" etc.

JJ,

I think you are spot-on with your observation. Thanks for pointing it out.

Gaylord Enns book “Love Revolution” is what caused me to review what the Ephesians first love was and recognize I learned incorrectly from Lee.

When our first love includes both loving the Lord and love for all the saints there is a correlation to Jesus’ own commandment “Love one another”.