What really captivates the Christian heart?

     In the book of Revelation Christ urges one of the seven churches to "return to your first love."  That would be the love they felt and experienced that first day, month, year that they first fell in love with Jesus realizing what He has done for us through his display of love on the cross.  It would be the kind of love that denies all of our "self" while absorbing as much of Him as we can.  That first love would not only be the first time encountering the love of God, but also feeling that love as we pass it onto others.  The "return" part of the statement is the concerning part of the quote.  If we are to return to our first love, we must have walked away from that first love as well.  It doesn't matter if we walked away one foot or 10,000 miles.  The fact is we walked away much like Adam and Eve did in the garden when they chose self over the love of God.  That's what we do isn't it.  We choose self over the love of God not only for ourselves but also those we give our love to.
     I remember several times driving down the road and glancing at my gas gauge noticing that I was sitting on empty.  No gas station in sight, appointment that I needed to get to, someone waiting at that location or other intention of mine.  So, I did the usual; "God, if you get me to _____, I'll _____."  Have you ever done that.  After I reached my destination and or filled the truck with gas, I'd go right back to whatever I was doing.  I even used the prayer to keep myself from getting tickets when I was speeding to get to a gas station to get gas!  How crazy is that?!  Never mind that this has also been applied to other areas of my life as well.  My promises to God would soon be compromised as I realized that no negative consequence that I could see was going to take place or had been visited upon me.  Needless to say, my first love wasn't God.  Nor was my circumstance enough to bring me to the point of being "captivated" to seek that first love.  The fervor had ceased to be and contentment in my life had taken place.
     The first century  church was anxiously awaiting the return of Christ they hoped and prayed would take place in their lifetimes.  That event didn't then and hasn't even now.  As time passes, people tend to lose belief in the promise.  When we begin to not believe that Jesus is coming back for us this very day, we start believing that we have all the time in the world.  We engage complacent Christianity and endure churchology.  Okay, that's my word for maintaining the status quo in our churches.  We have calendars planned out for everything from the church softball games to the potluck on the 4th of July.  There is attention given to the budget and cleaning of the church windows without a single person looking across the street at the ignored mission field.  There is no first love evident.  They and we have walked away from the first love and made ourselves and our idols the first love instead. 
     Hal Lindsay said once that the church organization has become a "doctrine of demons".  By that he focused on what man interpreted as the "needed" order of the church versus the outpouring of the love of God.  Now God had to fit into man's box and man no longer sought to be what God envisioned we be in Christ.  So we begin to water down the gospel, up the "tolerance" of others and their beliefs over the solid commands of Scripture.  The Bible talks about mankind seeking what they want to hear with "itching ears."  We do not do this and do that while both ends of that spectrum are nothing more than the sin that takes us further from our love of Christ.  The Christian heart is more and more difficult as the complacency rather than captivation increases.  In the end, God (again in Revelation) tells the people then and today that because we are lukewarm He will spew us out of his mouth.  He will throw up! We will be the throw up! 
     What really captivates the Christian heart?  The realization that all we are, all we have and this day are all gifts from God and we are nothing without him.  Just as our love of our spouses, children, parents and friends captivates us to act and be in a loving space to maintain and grow our relationship, we need to do so even more with Christ.  What will you do to be captivated by the love of Christ so that you see nothing but Him and what He wants in your life?