[Revelation] To the Church at Ephesus 預覽

Return To Your First Love

One of the most important exhortations we find in the seven letters of the book of Revelation is to return to our first love. How important it is to remember that Christianity is all about love. The very well-known passage in I Corinthians 13 tells us that if we give everything we own but do not have love, we gain nothing. True Christianity is revealed and maintained by a fervent love towards our Lord Jesus. We can be in the “right church” and with the “right doctrine,” but if we have lost our first love, it will not be enough. We can be very zealous and very knowledgeable in the Bible, but if we have lost our passion for our Lord, it will not be enough.

The church at Ephesus in the book of Revelation is encouraged and praised because of its hard work, patience, sound doctrine, endurance and perseverance. Wouldn’t we want to share these strengths? However, these are not enough to be able to retain our lampstand. It is, therefore, not about what we do but how we do it, and whether we do it with passion and love. Think of a wife who fulfills all her responsibilities as a spouse, and serves and respects her husband; if she does not want intimacy with him, maybe her heart is no longer with him. It is so very common, as time goes by, to lose the passion we experienced when we first believed, and end up in a place where the work of the Lord takes precedence over our devotion to Him.

The Lord tells us in Revelation 2:5: “Remember the heights from which you have fallen!” (AMP) One of the worst situations we can find ourselves in is the inability to acknowledge that losing our first love for the Lord is something that affects us and places us in a very dangerous state. We grow cold and we start a spiritual descent without even noticing it. But our Lord is after our heart! Therefore, our spiritual path is very much about the passion we have to seek Him, obey Him, and spend time with Him. 

Let us purpose and commit ourselves to devote as much time as we used to seek and worship Him. We used to attend church several times a week. Let us do it again! If there are no weekly services in your church, you can form a group of friends and family to seek and worship the Lord during the week. Nowadays, we can do it online, so there is no excuse.