"But I have this against you, that you have left your first love." Rev 2:4
Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, who walks amidst the assemblies, knowing all, charges the Church at Ephesus, with this indictment, "you have left your first love."
The report card Jesus gives, by worldly standards would be really good. They persevere in their toil of works; they can't tolerate evil men and they discern false prophets. They persevere and endure even in hardships for the Lord's name and have not grown weary. We would, reading this, assume they would be getting an A+ on the report card but from the indictment a huge heavenly "fail" is what they received.
This should speak to volumes to us about our relationship with Jesus. Do we still love Him, or have we gotten trapped on the "doing" wheel feeling good about how busy we are for the Lord but neglect the most important, being with Him. I find it a frightening prospect that none of their works held any value for Jesus because they had forsaken their first love. A dangerous place to be, secure in our works, when Jesus firstly wants our presence over and above works, for when we are totally sold out and in love with our Saviour, our motivation for works will be love-driven.
"Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent." Rev :2-5
Everything we do is noted by Jesus and those works that will ultimately bring a reward are those motivated by love for Him and others. We keep our love fresh by remembering what He did for us on that cross. We keep our love alive by mediating on His goodness and grace. We keep our love vibrant remembering when we fell in love with Him and how alive He made us feel especially when we realised how much we had been forgiven. The first "works" we did was believe and our hearts responded to His love and we found we just couldn't get enough of His presence even as we found Him in His Word. We were thankful and grateful for His blessing and acceptance.
We all know the example in the gospels of Mary and Martha. (Luke 10:38-42). Such a familiar story and the moral quite clear, Mary had "chosen the good part." Jesus wants us to be Mary's sitting at His feet. Interestingly the gospel accounts records Martha received Jesus into her house and then introduced Mary who "also sat at Jesus feet." Both sisters were sitting at His feet, but Martha "distracted with much serving" must have left her position to get on with service. The "Living Bread" was feeding their spirits but Martha was too concerned for the natural. Clearly Jesus preferred to have her continue to sit with Him, listening to Him and not "anxious and troubled about many things."
Serving the Lord is good, for "faith without works is dead", but serving and works should never replace time with Jesus. It's in the intimacy of sitting at this feet that the desires to serve are birthed.
"You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy, in your right hand pleasures forevermore." Ps 16:11
Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, who walks amidst the assemblies, knowing all, charges the Church at Ephesus, with this indictment, "you have left your first love."
The report card Jesus gives, by worldly standards would be really good. They persevere in their toil of works; they can't tolerate evil men and they discern false prophets. They persevere and endure even in hardships for the Lord's name and have not grown weary. We would, reading this, assume they would be getting an A+ on the report card but from the indictment a huge heavenly "fail" is what they received.
This should speak to volumes to us about our relationship with Jesus. Do we still love Him, or have we gotten trapped on the "doing" wheel feeling good about how busy we are for the Lord but neglect the most important, being with Him. I find it a frightening prospect that none of their works held any value for Jesus because they had forsaken their first love. A dangerous place to be, secure in our works, when Jesus firstly wants our presence over and above works, for when we are totally sold out and in love with our Saviour, our motivation for works will be love-driven.
"Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent." Rev :2-5
Everything we do is noted by Jesus and those works that will ultimately bring a reward are those motivated by love for Him and others. We keep our love fresh by remembering what He did for us on that cross. We keep our love alive by mediating on His goodness and grace. We keep our love vibrant remembering when we fell in love with Him and how alive He made us feel especially when we realised how much we had been forgiven. The first "works" we did was believe and our hearts responded to His love and we found we just couldn't get enough of His presence even as we found Him in His Word. We were thankful and grateful for His blessing and acceptance.
We all know the example in the gospels of Mary and Martha. (Luke 10:38-42). Such a familiar story and the moral quite clear, Mary had "chosen the good part." Jesus wants us to be Mary's sitting at His feet. Interestingly the gospel accounts records Martha received Jesus into her house and then introduced Mary who "also sat at Jesus feet." Both sisters were sitting at His feet, but Martha "distracted with much serving" must have left her position to get on with service. The "Living Bread" was feeding their spirits but Martha was too concerned for the natural. Clearly Jesus preferred to have her continue to sit with Him, listening to Him and not "anxious and troubled about many things."
Serving the Lord is good, for "faith without works is dead", but serving and works should never replace time with Jesus. It's in the intimacy of sitting at this feet that the desires to serve are birthed.
"You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy, in your right hand pleasures forevermore." Ps 16:11
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