Day #304 - First Love

The Presence - A Devotional for living in Thanksgiving, Worship and Wonder

“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭2‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Photo by Mandy von Stahl on Unsplash

Have you ever seen an older couple that is deeply in love with one another?

I think its wonderful to see newlyweds who are happily in love with each other. Often people will warn newlyweds that their honeymoon phase won’t last forever. There is some truth because no one will have an easy life but I wish we would nurture romantic love more than discourage it. But ultimately an old and mature love that grows over decades and is evident to others is more powerful than young love. Grace and I are blessed to witness both of our parents loving each other so well as they grow older. We’ve been blessed in the church to see many other couples who love each other so strongly as they age and its beautiful.

Jesus is speaking to the seven churches in Revelation two and three. He has commendations and rebukes for these seven churches. The first church he addresses is the church at Ephesus. Ephesus had a powerful history. It was started in an outpouring of the Holy Spirit with the ministry of the apostle Paul. Paul started equipping disciples there and the gospel spread throughout Asia Minor in two years so that everyone had chance to hear the gospel in that time. Timothy, who was Paul’s spiritual son, led the church after Paul. Church history reports that John the apostle attended there at the end of his life. This was a dynamic church.

Jesus had a lot to praise Ephesus for and it appears they are the happening church in a lot of ways during this time period. They were so mature that they were examining apostles to determine if they were true or false. They persevered and did good works. They did not tolerate evil. But then Jesus says they had one major problem: they left their first love. They were “successful” according to the metrics of ministry but they did not prize “the Presence” above everything else.

The church of Ephesus had lost the plot. As a corporate church our highest priority is to love Jesus more than anything else. When we care more about success as the world counts it, more about prestige or more about appearing right than loving Jesus, we have fallen. Jesus gave them a way back he said they should repent and return to the things they used to do at first.

Do you remember the way you loved Jesus at first? Do you remember how much you loved His presence, worship and prayer when you first realized your sin was forgiven? What about as a church together, do you care more about ministering to Jesus and honoring Him or do you care more about your own feelings and brand? If we fail to love Jesus first as His church what are we even doing? It’s sobering to realize that we can do much well but if we don’t love Him first and most, He will come and remove our lampstand.

Lord Jesus, thank for Your love and zeal for Your church. Help us Your church to keep our first love in first place. In anyway that we have fallen and turned from our first love, Lord we repent and return to You. Help us to return to the first things we did when we have loved You most. Awaken a passionate love in us for Your presence. You are worthy of a people who love You first and love You most. In Your holy name, amen.