First Love
Reading Time: 9 Minutes
On October 10, 2018 I woke up from a disturbing dream about a lack of love for those without Jesus. This is a symptom of spiritual apathy, or falling asleep. The remedy is to return to the passionate, first-love relationship with Jesus so the Holy Spirit can fill us with His love for others.
Not every shocking dream is from God. Some dreams can be from our enemy, the devil, who wants to bring fear, condemnation or accusation. But this one mirrors scripture and the Holy Spirit has confirmed to me that it needs to be shared. God gives dreams to bring us closer to His heart.
The Dream
I was inside a passenger train full of people that I knew. God didn’t reveal who they were in the dream but apparently I “knew” them. We were stopped at a train station waiting for departure. Some of us were standing and some were sitting. As I stood in the isle near the door, I could see a boy around five years old. He was playing on the outside of the train car, looking in through the windows. All the passengers saw the child through the windows as he climbed around and peered inside.
In the dream, I knew he was supposed to be inside the train. I also knew that it was dangerous for him to climb around on the outside. He needed to be told to come in because the train would be leaving soon. Time was running out. But instead of telling him myself, I turned away and hoped someone else would do it. I began to look for a seat in the crowded train.
Suddenly, the train sped away and we were going fast down the track. Still standing, I started looking for the boy. I asked one of the passengers if they had seen him get on board but they completely ignored me. Others just stared at me as if I had said something wrong. I spoke louder, asking where the boy was that had been playing on the outside of the train.
Finally, a man got in my face and said loudly, “He’s dead!” His tone and body language were forceful and His message was clear: I should have figured it out myself and kept my mouth shut because I was making people feel uncomfortable. Then I woke up.
Brief Interpretation
The train represents “the church” in a general sense. The passengers represent those who are “on board” because they have received the Gospel of Jesus. The boy on the outside represents those who have not fully understood the Gospel. However, they are innocently “looking into” the church for answers. Not caring about the destiny of those without Jesus was the glaring message in the dream. But even beyond that we see the great offense within “the church” when the subject was brought up. The lack of grief and repentance points to a lack of love for God Himself who has commissioned us to invite others into the Kingdom.
This dream was directed to me and I was humbled by its truth. But knowing that the Lord disciplines the child He loves was a great comfort to me. I chose to repent and actively seek God’s heart to love Him and others as He has commanded us to do.
If I felt this dream was for my benefit only I wouldn’t post it for the world to read. But I was not the only person on the train. One clue was that “I knew the passengers” but God didn’t reveal who they actually were. And there were lots of them. So I believe they represent many in the family of God today.
This is a tough end-times message but at its core is the overwhelming extravagant love of God. God’s kindness leads us to repentance and repentance always leads us into His heart of love!
Love Like You Just Met Jesus
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Revelation 2:1-7. NIV
These words of Jesus remind us that the devil doesn’t want us to be victorious. The enemy wants to trip us up by stealing our love for God and others.
Not participating in outward sin is important in our obedience to Christ. But if we ignore Holy Spirit, the love we had in our hearts when we met Jesus will grow dim. This can happen when we become too busy, distracted, hurt, self-absorbed, offended or worried about many things. Our lives and minds can become so cluttered that we don’t develop a real, intimate, transformational relationship with God.
The Motivation of our Hearts
This dream is not telling us to feel guilty about not sharing the Gospel and do something quick to try and ease the guilt– like go street witnessing or donate to missions. Street witnessing and missions are amazing, but not if our motivation is guilt or fear of punishment. This dream is showing us that if we aren’t actively caring about the lost, something is broken in our hearts.
God is concerned about the boy on the outside of the train. But He is also concerned about the condition of the hearts of His children whose love has grown cold. They are in danger too. Jesus wants us to draw close to Him again and love like we did when we first met Him.
Remaining In Christ
I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me—and I in him—bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and are burned up. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. My Father is honored by this, that you bear much fruit and show that you are my disciples. John 15:5-8 NET
We remain in Christ through our relationship with the Holy Spirit. As our relationship with God grows we will bear good fruit. In this dream, nobody on the train cared to warn the boy and encourage him to come on board. That’s not the fruit of the Spirit. God’s Spirit wants everyone to come to Jesus and enjoy His grace for eternity. God doesn’t want anyone to die outside of Christ and spend eternity in hell.
Multiplication
The fruit of a growing relationship with God’s Spirit is love. When we love, we care about others and invite them in! The Kingdom of God will grows in number. A vine produces fruit that can be eaten (tasted). The seeds can be planted to produce more fruit of the same kind. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is not just for self-consumption but for multiplication or reproduction. God wants to nourish us by His Spirit like a vine nourishes its branches. If we let God prune and cultivate us like a gardener we will produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Then He can love others into His Kingdom through us!
Withering on the Vine
Did you notice how everyone on the train was apathetic about the boy? There was no love for him- no fruit for him. Also, as I became concerned about the boy, the tension among the passengers rose until finally one man became enraged! These kinds of attitudes (bad fruit) are clues that the love of many Christians is withering on the vine.
If My Word Remains in You
One of the keys to remaining in Jesus and keeping our first love alive is becoming one with His Word. It requires the power of God’s Spirit to genuinely receive the Word and to obey it no matter the cost. When you totally yield to God’s Spirit, you will begin to experience Him in new ways. He will transform you into a more loving, forgiving and compassionate child of God.
Not Ashamed to Love
Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels. Luke 9:23-26 NLT
We become ashamed to share the Gospel when our relationship with Jesus is not alive and active. What is more important than our love-relationship with Jesus Christ? He died a torturous death on the cross to save us from our sin. Then He rose again to give us life by His Spirit. Whatever He asks us to give up in order to remain in Him is nothing compared to what He give us in return!
Unfinished Deeds
Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Revelation 3:2-3. NIV
This train dream was a wake-up call for me! I didn’t realize how spiritually asleep I was. Neither do many Christians who are preoccupied with real problems, trivial pursuits and even doing things for God.
If we want to love others through the power of the Spirit we have to engage with our first love— Jesus. He will show each of us how we are to uniquely invite others into the Kingdom of God.
Open the Door
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:9-16. NKJV
In this dream I was standing near the door that represents Jesus Christ. How easy would it have been to lean out through the door and invite the boy to come inside? God has given all of His children lots of free tickets to hand out. Many of God’s lost children are waiting for an invitation to get on board and experience abundant life in Christ! So let’s fall in love with Jesus again and love like we did at first!
