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You have left your first love. (Revelation 2:4 NAS)
The Church in Ephesus was the kind of church you'd have wanted to attend: "I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false" (Rev 2:2 NAS). So far so good. Who can argue with orthodoxy? But all was not well: "I have this against you," says the Lord. "You have left your first love."
John Stott writes: "They had fallen from the early heights of devotion to Christ which they had climbed. They had descended to the plains of mediocrity. In a word...the hearts of the Ephesian Christians had chilled." This word "chilled" puts a shiver up your spine. What a horrible way to describe the heart of a Christian!" Stott continues: "Their first flush of ecstasy had passed. Their early devotion to Christ had cooled. They had been in love with Him, but they had fallen out of love." How much had changed since Paul penned his last letter to that church: 'Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love' (Eph 6:24 NAS). Then Stott concludes: 'they toiled with vigour, but not with love. They tested their teachers with orthodoxy, but had no love in their hearts.'"
Wow! You can go to church, read your Bible and pray daily, yet not truly love God. Loving God is a commitment, an attitude resulting in action, a focus, a daily decision to acknowledge Him in all you say and do. So, do you love God?
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