Stirring Up First Love with Red Letters

Stirring Up First Love

Returning to the Red Letters

I got one of the best compliments last Sunday. A lady walked up and said, “You know what you did? You stirred up first love in us. We’ve kind of felt like we lost that here.” That hit me deep. Because that is the cry of my heart—and our heart as a church. I want people to see Jesus, fall in love with who He really is, and experience Him. Not a version of Him. Not a tradition about Him. The real Jesus of the Bible—His words and the life He modeled.

Jesus said it plainly in John 6:63:

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” The flesh is simply relying on our own ability, our own strength, our own source. But His words are spirit. They are life. Lately the Lord has been pressing something simple on me: go back to the beginning of the New Testament and just start paying attention to the words of Jesus. Meditate on them. There are roughly thirty thousand words that Jesus spoke across Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. That’s not light reading. That’s substance.

Imagine closing your eyes and inviting Jesus into the room. He sits down in front of you and begins speaking every one of those thirty thousand words. That is actually available to us, because the Word is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. It cuts deep—but God never leaves us wounded. He always brings healing and life.

Here’s the problem: a lot of people struggle to receive those red-letter words that cut. Why? Because they aren’t grounded and rooted in the love of God. You have to settle this in your heart first: God loves you. God loves you. God loves you. You cannot receive words that bring life if you’re still questioning whether the One speaking them actually loves you. When that love is settled, boldness comes. The fear of man starts to lose its grip. I hate the fear of man. It’s bondage. It invalidates people and keeps them from becoming who they really are in God. All creation is waiting for the sons of God to be revealed—and that revelation flows out of knowing you are loved.

Look at the Apostle John. They tried to kill him in boiling oil. The crowd was roaring for blood. They lowered him into the cauldron… and he lifted his hands and started praising God. The atmosphere shifted. Excitement turned into conviction. Why? Because this was the disciple who rested his head on Jesus’ chest. He called himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” When you know you’re loved, you can outrun the person who only has zeal. Zeal runs out. Love doesn’t.

We’ve seen this play out in our generation through The Chosen. Agree or disagree with every detail of the show, something remarkable happened. People started falling in love with Jesus again—because they saw a Jesus who was kind, relational, who asked questions, who danced at a wedding, who was personable. Many said, “This feels different from the Jesus I saw growing up in church.” The early church didn’t have the full New Testament letters. They had the Old Testament and the living memory of Jesus’ words and life. And they turned the world upside down with that.

We can let something beautiful and majestic become common. Locals often stop seeing the wonder of the place they live in every day. The same thing can happen with the Word. We skim the red letters and say, “Yeah, I know that.” But do we know it to the point that we become it?

Jesus is the Word. The Word was in the beginning and the Word became flesh. He only said what He heard the Father say. I want to become red letters. I want us to live in a vital rhythm—the rhythm of new life. We’re created to be around people who are experiencing Jesus for the first time (or the hundredth time). It stirs first love all over again. The honeymoon was never meant to end. Religion says, “Just wait until life hits you.” But real relationship with Jesus should grow deeper, not duller. Sometimes we just need to stir it up.

The Word That Cuts and Reveals

In Luke 2, when Jesus is still a baby, Simeon holds Him and prophesies over Mary and Joseph: “This Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against… that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” His words would pierce. They still do. Believing in Jesus means believing His words. There are people who say they believe in Jesus, believe He died for their sins, even believe He is the Messiah—yet they reject what He actually said about Himself. That’s not belief. That’s another Jesus.

Paul warned the Corinthians about exactly that (2 Corinthians 11:4). Another Jesus. Another spirit. Another gospel. It’s easy to put up with it. It’s dangerous.

When Hearts Burn

One of my favorite passages is the road to Emmaus in Luke 24. Two disciples are walking, discouraged, talking about the crucifixion. Jesus Himself draws near and walks with them—but their eyes are restrained. They don’t recognize Him. He asks what they’re talking about. They pour out the whole story. Then Jesus says, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe…” and beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He expounds to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

Later, as He breaks bread, their eyes are opened. He vanishes. And they say to each other:

“Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

That burning—that’s the Holy Spirit. That’s Jesus. We were created for our hearts to burn when we hear His words. Here’s what the Spirit showed me: they couldn’t recognize Jesus on the road because they hadn’t yet seen Him in the Word. Once He opened the Scriptures to them, their eyes were opened to see Him. If the eyes of your heart are illuminated to see Jesus in the Word, you will recognize Him when He walks across your path. Many of His own people didn’t. So soften your heart. Spend time alone with Him. Let Him illuminate the eyes of your heart. In the days ahead, that may matter more than we realize.

A Call Back to the Source

The Parable of the Sower (the one Jesus said is the key to understanding all the other parables) is really about the condition of the heart. Good soil receives the Word, and it bears fruit. John 14–17 is like the Holy of Holies—Jesus’ most intimate words right before the cross. I plan to keep pointing us back to specific red-letter passages. Not as a checklist. As an invitation to fall in love again.

Whether you’ve known Him a week or thirty years, we are called to first-love relationship all the time. The Word is still living. The Spirit still gives life. His words are still spirit and life.

Let’s not let them become common.

Let’s let our hearts burn again.

Come, Lord Jesus. Open the Scriptures to us. Let us see You.

Join us this August to go through all for Gospels of Jesus.