Revelation 2:1-7
1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Outwardly, the Church of Ephesus appeared to be doing very well. But Christ revealed that it had left its first love. The same thing may happen to each of us. Christ Himself foretold that because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold [Matthew 24:12]. Therefore, we cannot be complacent and assume that all is well. Evaluate yourself honestly – Have you left your first love?
If you want to get right with the Lord, the first thing you need to do is to remember how you began in your relationship with Him [v.5]. Spurgeon wrote,
“Ever to be remembered is that best and brightest of hours, when first we saw the Lord… we magnified the holy name of our forgiving God, and our resolve was, ‘Lord, I am Thine, wholly thine; all I am, and all I have, I would devote to Thee. Thou hast bought me with Thy blood–let me spend myself and be spent in Thy service. In life and in death let me be consecrated to Thee.’ Our espousal love burned with a holy flame of devotedness to Jesus–is it the same now?”
The second thing you need to do is repent. This is not merely expressing remorse but a sincere resolve to change and turn back to God. This resolve should then lead to doing the first works and giving greater priority to the things of God. It may mean cutting off some time-consuming pursuits.
I knew a Christian student with a great passion for the game of chess. He played at important tournaments and hoped to become a chess grandmaster. But it was hindering his spiritual growth. He didn’t have time for Bible study, prayer, and fellowship. His turning point came only when he realised, he had spent all that time pushing pieces of wood around on a board.
Time spent with Christ and for Christ is of much greater worth than all the time being spend in the multitude of worldly pursuits. You will not regret investing your time in doing the first works.
Thought:
“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”
[Revelation 2:5]
Combined B-P Conference (2019) Devotional by Ps Charles Seet