The Conquest

Lost 1st Love, Thursday, December 16, 2010

Reading: Revelation 2:2-4, ²I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. ³You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. ⁴Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. ⁵Remember the height from which 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.

At first read, these people look like they have it all together and are doing everything that they should be. But, that is the key to the message that God is telling this church. To shorten this passage, “I know your deeds… [but] you have forsaken your first love.” Even as God told them to “do the things you did at first”, do you recall the first time you became a Christian? Do you remember the freshness and the new relationship feeling... the raw excitement with the unexplainable difference in your heart and life that only He could do?

Many couples start off their dating relationship with the guy pursuing her. Trying to catch her eye. Doing random, special things for her. Then, marriage comes. The years begin to pass and the “random”, “special” things become fleeting memories. The pursuit is over. The pursuit and attention is deferred to sports, work and entertainment. That is exactly what God is attempting to communicate to this church. “You have forsaken your first love.” Me! You are not pursuing me. You are not seeking my advice or looking to me in the same way when our relationship first started. You are doing good deeds but, good deeds are not your number one priority. God simply wants a relationship with you, first and foremost. He will produce the good deeds in you, instead of the deeds becoming just some good things that you do.

Challenge: Today, just as God said to the church of Ephesus, repent and do the things that you did at first in your relationship with Christ. Fall in love with your relationship with God today, whatever that takes. Get back to pursuing Him, instead of pursuing the “churchy” things to do.

REVIEW

What did it take for you to get back to your “first love” and pursue Christ?

How did this impact your day today?