The Love You Had at First

"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."

Revelation 2: 4-5

 

At the beginning of the book of Revelation, Jesus is addressing seven churches, which serve as His "lampstands" in a fallen world.  Jesus is is both encouraging the churches in actions of faith and deeds that are pleasing to Him, and at the same time, rebuking them for hearts that have turned cold in certain other actions.  This particular portion of scripture above, He is writing to the church in Ephesus.  Jesus is pleased with their patient endurance in the sinful culture around them and pleased that they are holding accountable the false teaching of that day (Rev. 2:2).  Jesus also encourages the believers in Ephesus of their hard hard work, toil, and perseverance in the faith.  The verses above, however, speak of His rebuke to the Ephesians.  They had gotten to a place in their faith where they knew the actions they are supposed to take as believers, however, they had taken the love they first operated with, out of their following Christ.  Jesus commands us, in the gospel according to Matthew, that loving God and others as ourselves are the greatest two commandments (Matt. 22:36-40).  In fact all of the other commandments hinge on these greater two being followed.  When we do things out of love for God and others, we are doing the will of God.  God is love, and therefore, this should be the greatest striving in our walk of faith.  We ought to be doing everything out of love.  It should be our motivation, our intercession, and ambition to operate out of a place of love at all times.  And this kind of love should be a self-sacrificing, unconditional type of love.  So often in our walk following Christ, we first cry out to Him.  In our distress or difficult circumstances we need God.  So, we cry out to Him, in faith, and He has mercy on us in our situations.  Only out of the motive of love, our Savior gives us mercy, and bestows His grace upon us in our darkest days.  We recognize this, and continue to follow Him.  Then, once things start to go a little better in our lives, the temptation becomes to turn to obligation.  Out of obligation, we go to church, we tithe, we help others when we can, we admonish other believers when needed, and we go about our "religion".  However, the love is gone.  The love that we had when Jesus first touched our hearts and lives is absent in our hearts.  It becomes cold or lukewarm at best.  How often do we reflect on those moments when we know Christ intervened on our behalf and show gratitude to Him?  How often do we become "religious" and operate out of obligation because we know it all?  Or even, how often do we feel like we are just going through the motions because we know it is the right thing to do?  Just like the church in Ephesus, we need to remember that love is the most important aspect of being a Christian.  It is not what we do, but the motivation behind the things we do that separates us from the world.  We need to remember this love, repent, and do the things we did when Jesus first came into our hearts.  Christians should be the most loving, unconditional, self-sacrificing people on the planet.  And by this, the world will know we are followers of Christ (John 13:35).  Today, recognize if your faith and actions are growing cold.  Are you just going through Christian actions, or are you motivated by the love you first had when you came to Christ?  Pray and ask that the Lord fill your heart with love, and that you are motivated to love Him and others all the more!  Love you all!  Praying for you and yours!  Have a blessed day, it's your choice!