JUN 24

Revelation 2:1-7
Memorise Revelation 2:5
“I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love…”

HAVE YOU LEFT YOUR FIRST LOVE?

The city of Ephesus was a prominent and prosperous city known at that time as the ‘metropolis of Asia’. It was a self-governing free city that also housed a large Jewish population. Out of all the seven churches, the church at Ephesus was probably the most well-known, and also most often referred to in the Bible. It was at Ephesus where Paul spent the bulk of his third missionary journey, and had a very successful ministry (Acts 19). He would later return to a very tearful farewell with the Ephesus Elders (Acts 20), and write the whole Epistle to the Ephesians to them. Later on, Timothy (1 Timothy 1:3), Tychicus (2 Timothy 4:12), and according to church history, the Apostle John himself also spent a long time pastoring this church. Thus this was a church that was rich in history and heritage, having had many great men of faith ministering to them in their midst. They were well-grounded in the Word of God, and had shown themselves to be faithful in the past.

Now, it was about 40 years since Paul first stepped foot into the city of Ephesus. The previous generation had passed, and the next generation of leaders had taken over. The Lord commends them for their works, labour and patience, and how they continued to fight the good fight of faith. They were spiritually discerning, and were standing firm against apostasy. However, the one major problem that the Lord had against them, was that they had left their first love. In the midst of their contending for the faith, they had forgotten the most fundamental component of their relationship with God, and that was their love for Him. They were faithfully and actively serving, doing all the right things, but had forgotten the real reason as to why they were doing all these things. They were perhaps just going through the motion, doing all that their previous generations had taught them, but were not doing it in love.

This was indeed a serious problem, and so the Lord called on them to repent! They were to go back, to do the first works and remember the zeal for the Lord that they had as new believers. They were to turn from their lack of love and to remember how their simple relationship with the Lord was when they first believed in Christ. Dear teen, do you face a similar problem as them? Repent, and remember.

Thought: What am I, if I do not have love?
Prayer: Lord, help me never to leave my love for Thee.