John Green, an American author once remarked: “You remember your first love because they show you, prove to you, that you can love and be loved, that nothing in this world is deserved except for love, that love is both how you become a person and why.” Revelation 2:4-5 reminds us: “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”
First Love has been defined as the initial romantic experience a person ever encounters in life. It is often considered as the verifiable starting point of an experience that might be said to open the eyes to endearment. It is an emotional intensity that creates a lasting impression, never to be forgotten. Whether it be short and sweet or an indelible lifetime experience is really immaterial, as it is the creational impact that survives and endures. It changes personal perception, influences future relationships and becomes a valuable lesson or guidance on boundaries, communication and grandiloquent resilience.
Although the Bible does not explicitly state that Joseph was the first love of Mary, it does emphatically emphasize that Mary was a virgin, both before and after the birth of Jesus. Mary was the chosen person of God to bear and mother His Son. This was an exceptional honor and just as Jesus was a unique person, it be only right that He be born to a especial and sinless person to uphold the task. This alone, would increase the likelihood that Joseph would have probably been her first love. Luke 1:26-38 confirms:”In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.
And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy - the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.”
Love is considered to be a complex transcending emotion by most, but its inception is always initiated by the grace and power of God. God’s love was the original impetus for creation. If one has never experienced love, it can never be shared with another. God’s love for mankind existed even before He formed Adam, and that love has prevailed ever since. In Christian theology, God is often considered as the first love in many believers lives. That prioritizes God above all else, including wordly desires, relationships and even one’s own being. Without God there can be no love. That is the foundation stone on which all future loving relationships are built. By making God first, individuals seek to align their lives with His will and find a deeper, more fulfilling relationship with Him and the world around them.
Genesis 2:4-15 reminds us: “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up - for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”
Love is important because it fosters strong social bonds, contributes to mental and physical well-being, and enhances the quality of life. It provides emotional support, reduces stress and anxiety, and increases life expectancy. Love also fuels relationships, promotes empathy and compassion, and helps individuals feel understood and connected. Victor Hugo, a writer and former member of the Senate of France once remarked: "The supreme happiness of life consists in the conviction that one is loved; loved for oneself, and above all, loved by those to whom one is dear."
Love’s characteristics are special, it includes understanding, patience, kindness, and a special way of relating to others. It could be said to be the delineation of God. 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 confirms: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.”
The origin of life includes an emergence, and could be said to represent many elements of truth and love. It has its own unique qualities and individual expressions. It portrays characteristics that are usually impossible to replicate by fake impressionism. It includes strong affection and a caring heart, concern for others and helping those in need. Love is present everywhere, in times of happiness and joy, heartache and sorrow, illness and health and is the primary essence of life itself. 1 John 4:7-12 reminds us: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”
Amen.
