To the church at Ephesus (in the 2nd chapter of the book of Revelation), Jesus had many good things to say. It had plentiful works, arduous labor, patient endurance, it did not tolerate evil men and discerned false apostles and dealt with them appropriately. What more could Jesus ask from a church or believers, one could ask! But there you are. Jesus says something so strikingly painful, that whoever in the church, especially the leaders when they heard it, they would shake their heads and say, “What more can we do?” Jesus had said, “Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place. (Revelation 2:4, 5)
We are
speaking here of a Church which earlier had great leaders like Timothy and
John, the Apostle. Was the sin so glaring that Jesus warns them that the Church
would cease to exist if it did not repent? And cease to exist it did, because
they did not repent.
Jesus spoke
about the Ephesian Church to have left its first love. 30 years back then, the
Apostle Paul had written to the same church, saying, “Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus
Christ sincerely. (Ephesians 6:24)
So the question arises for believers
and Churches in our present time. Have we left out first love?
We may be doing everything that a
believer or Church is supposed to do. Worship, prayer, meditation of God’s
Word, evangelism…..yet, without any intimacy with Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Has all that we do, become a routine or
a burden, without any love for Jesus?
The question is are we enjoying our
relationship with Jesus? “Delighting” would be the right word, as we read of in
several scriptures in the Word of God.
…..his
(Jehoshaphat’s) heart took delight in the ways of the Lord. (2
Chronicles 17:6)…
But his delight is in the law of the Lord…. (Psalm 1:2)
Delight
yourself in the Lord…. (Psalm 37:4)
I
delight to do your will….. (Psalm 40:8)
Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His
commandments…. (Psalm 112:1)
Many
believers delight in serving Jesus initially in their walk with him, but as
time goes by, their first love wanes and then they just do things because they
have to. If we have left our first love, this is the time and season to repent
and love Jesus from our hearts and delight in serving him.
As
the return of our Savior looms on the horizon, some of us need to do a diligent
heart search and love our Savior in sincerity, as Apostle Paul wrote to the
Ephesian Church.
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