WOW!!! Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. That brothers and sisters is shaky ground! One of my favorite hymns says in part, "On Christ the solid rock I stand, ALL other ground is sinking sand."

Let us take a look at the situation here. We see a letter to be written to the Church at Ephesus. The Apostle Paul also wrote a letter to the Church at Ephesus. We know it as the Book of Ephesians.

First of all The Lord says He knows their works, their labour and their patience. That is a rather sobering thought in itself. We all accept the doctrine of God's omnipotence and omniscience. Here we can see the proof He knows everything we do. Just as He could see every last little thing the Ephesians did. He knows what kind of fruit they produce. He has seen it all.

The Lord also says He knows how they cannot bear any type of evil. Their doctrine is in the right standing. That is attested to even further in the next statement. "And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:" I am reminded here of the Bereans. The Bereans who searched the Scriptures daily to determine if the things they had been told were correct. The Ephesians apparently were also very good at rightly dividing the Word of Truth.

Then look at the things detailed in verse 3. They have borne; which means they have withstood trials and tribulations. They have patience. This is a reiteration of what was said in Verse 2 but adds even more emphasis to it. This apparently refers to the statement made concerning the trying of the false apostles. What I believe this to mean is that rather than become angry with these false teachers they first had the patience to compare the things they knew to be true in order to determine whether these were in fact false apostles.

At the close of Verse 3 we see reference made to the Ephesians apparently tireless efforts in the name of God. That is verified by the statement they “did not faint.” They laboured untiringly in the name of God.
Then after all these seeming accolades we see a serious problem. A very serious problem. Nevertheless, in other words in spite of all this, no matter all the good works, no matter the tireless efforts in His Name, no matter the rejections of false teachers, Jesus has somewhat against them. Uh oh! Now if we believe we are doing everything we can for Him and He tells us He has something against us we ought listen and listen well.

Just exactly what is it that Jesus has against these people who are seemingly doing everything they ought do? Just what could be wrong with the relationship? Is it not hard to imagine that Christ had anything against such people? Let us look at the problem.

“Because thou hast left thy first love.”

What is that first love? What should the very biggest, most pronounced and greatest love we exhibit be? Is it not the love of Christ Jesus? Brothers and Sisters what we are reading about here is mechanical Christians! People who were running on autopilot. It is clear they were doing things because it is what they were supposed to be doing.

We must examine our own lives. Do we go to church when the Church is open because we are supposed to go to Church, or do we go because we love to go and we go to worship God? Do we read our Bibles daily because we were told we ought to read them, or do we read them because we love God and we want to know as much as possible about His love for us and how we ought manage our lives? Do we end our prayers in the Name of Jesus because it is the thing to do, or do we end them in His name because of our love for Him and in recognition of what He has done for us? Do we do family devotions because it is something we are supposed to do, or do we do it because of our love for Jesus and the fact we want to teach our children about His wonderful love for us?

When we become still and know that He is God does it bring tears to our eyes? It ought to! We are speaking of the love of this same Jesus who gave His life for our sins. It was my sin that put him on Calvary’s cross. It was our wrongs that caused Him to have to give His life on our behalf. The love of God for His Children knows no boundaries. The Bible says, “For God SO loved the world…” How did He love us? He SO loved us.

Another of my favorite hymns is called, “The Wonder of it all.” One of the lines goes, “The wonder of it all, to even think that God loves me.” Me, a worthless, terrible wreck of a man who was only saved by His grace and mercies.

In closing let me leave you with this thought:

If God loved us the same way we loved him, where would we be? Think about it friends. Deeply, honestly and without restraint consider your love for Jesus. Do we even begin to love Him the way He loves us? The first love the Ephesians had left was the love of Christ. It ought not be so in our lives.

Brother,

This is probably one of the most important posts I have seen on this site yet.

And yes, it brings tears to my eyes even now. Our first love is Christ Jesus.

Oh if we ever are accused of this! I believe we can be!

God forgive us for our humanism and selfishness.

If the Bride of Christ has left its first love, the groom, Jesus Christ, what hope does it have left?

We need repent on Gods terms.

Thank you George for this admonishment,

Jim

Think on this also brothers and sisters:

That is something that needs a great deal of meditating on and pondering over. If you are anything like me you would be in incredibly bad shape. That is why I wrote the message above. We must examine our love of God. Recall that Jesus said that without Him we can do nothing.

In Christ,
George