Lost Love

Fergus Buchanan October 30, 2021 0 2

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Revelation 2: 1-7 (NIVUK)

1 ‘To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

4 Yet I hold this against you: you have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 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. 6 But you have this in your favour: you hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Here’s a thing. A Christian community that believes all the right things, has deep spiritual insight, has persevered in the faith through persecution. But something is wrong. The eyes of the risen and ascended Jesus have looked deep into the heart of this community and revealed its possible future extinction. What is the problem? Says Jesus: ‘You have lost your first love.’ The heart has been torn out of their witness because they are no longer as focused on Jesus as they were when faith began for them. Their appreciation of who He is and what He has achieved has cooled. Their personal devotion has weakened. There may be many reasons why this has happened but it cannot be denied. We are seeing them from the perspective of Jesus.

For want of a better word, this is scary. I heard a phrase used recently to describe how unwelcome attitudes and beliefs can slowly permeate society. It is a process of ‘gradual creep.’ This is what has happened in Ephesus. This spiritual cooling has gradually crept up on them. They may have been engaged in ‘good work’ but have been levered away from the centre and soul of the faith who is Jesus.

There are warnings aplenty about this in Scripture. Paul calls upon the Christians in Rome to keep their ‘spiritual fervour.’ (Romans 12: 11). The Letter to the Hebrews tells us to ‘fix our eyes on Jesus.’ (Hebrews 12: 2). The Church that does anything less is not just an inadequate witness according to Jesus, she is no witness at all.

Bartimaeus is an example to us of complete focus on Jesus. He called on Him through the discouragements of the crowd, engaged with Him on the most personal level, and went with Him into the unknown future.

PRAYER:

Lord Jesus,

Convince us that only as we focus on You, the author and perfector of our faith, will our witness be strong and contribute to the upbuilding of Your Kingdom. Amen.