REVELATION 2:1-7 – “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’ ”

THEME OF THE DAY. DON’T LOSE THE MAIN THING. The church in today’s scripture was doing well. They were defending the truth, proclaiming the truth, living the truth, and enduring difficulties for doing so. It sounds like the place to be. One can sense the “beehive” of ministry activity occurring. It’s hard not to get excited about the church in Ephesus. Right doctrine. Good works. Patient in suffering. Discerning false teachers. It makes a person want to move close and get involved. And our Lord was quick to affirm their spiritual activity and defense against error. But . . . something was wrong. It appeared right but something was missing. The activity was much but the spiritual life was low. Dangerously low. Oh, it wouldn’t be noticed with all that was going on in the church. That is what busyness will do in a church, in a marriage, and in a family. It will mask a lack of vibrant Christian spirituality. The devil doesn’t have to get Christians and churches to commit shameful public sin to ruin their testimonies. All he must do is get us so busy in life that we take no time to cultivate the main thing in life – enjoying the love of Christ and learning to walk under its control. And when this occurs, the main thing in the Christian is lost; the main thing Jesus indicts this church with – the loss or abandonment of first love for Him. So, how do we avoid this soul-damaging sin? A couple of things.

First, remember what a Christian is; a person indwelt with the living Christ through His Spirit. Friends, we are not moral people, religious people, or a people who do “church” things. We are a people whom God has chosen to indwell with a goal to live daily in awareness of the personal relationship this produces. If we remember the One who loved us, died for us, rose for us, and is coming back for us is living inside of His, we will go a long way of not forgetting Him and His love.

Another thing we must do to avoid losing first love for Jesus is slow down in life; all of life. Beware of filling every day with “stuff” – either to do or places to go that leave no room to “Be still and know I am God” through time in His Word and prayer (Psalm 46:10). Here is where the love of Jesus is discovered. Neglect these, and yes, both are necessary, and we will find ourselves “members of the church at Ephesus.” We will be believe the right things, proclaim the right things, defend the right things and miss the main thing. May it never be so as we seek to not only keep first love for Jesus, but go deeper and deeper in the bottomless well of His amazing love for us.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to keep loving You, Your Son and Your Spirit my daily priority.”

QUOTE: “Believing truth, practicing truth, and defending the truth only matters if it flows from loving Christ”