Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Revelation 2:4
With a twinkle in his eye, the old man slipped up silently behind his wife in the wheelchair, and popped an acorn over her shoulder into her lap as she sat enjoying the scenery. Briefly startled, she burst into a laugh at her husband’s little joke. He gave her a hug, kissed her cheek, and began wheeling her down the path in the lovely park which they were visiting. It was a touching scene, but a common one for those two old people who had been high school sweethearts, and who had spent their lives adoring each other and enjoying each others’ company. Nothing in their long, eventful lives had ever caused their first love to fade. Too bad that couldn’t be said of many of us Christians in our relationship with the Lord!
The Assembly in Ephesus had so many things right. Doctrinally, they were sound. Activity-wise, they were busy and productive, Fellowship-wise, they all got along well. But there was a growing problem in that Assembly. The burning desire to please the Lord Who had saved them had faded into a sense of duty. The love for lost souls that had been so strong in the early days after they were saved had also shrivelled up. The worship that had been so spontaneous and sweet in the early days had now deteriorated into ritual and formality. Their early love for the Lord Jesus was just not evident anymore. And as a result, they were in danger of losing everything else. Everything else that was right about the Ephesus Assembly was right for the wrong reasons. Unless the primary motive behind an Assembly’s functioning is love for the Lord Jesus, the Assembly is disfunctional. The same goes for us as individuals; a love for our Lord and Saviour puts everything right, while a loss of that love puts everything out of order.
As John received this message for the Ephesians, he must have been surprised. As far as he, and most others, were aware, things were fine in Ephesus. The Assembly was so busy and so careful that everybody just assumed it was a model congregation. But the Lord Who knew the hearts of the saints there knew differently. Before anything was obvious to outsiders, or even to themselves, the Lord was fully aware of it all. And He longed that the relationship would resume its fervor. No doubt some of the godly overseers in that Assembly were starting to wonder, because when Christians are not getting along well with their Lord, they are usually not getting along with each other. Little issues were probably starting to appear. Those overseers would welcome the Lord’s message to them from John, because they would also desire restoration in their midst.
It is likely that we can all say our love for the Lord Jesus is not what it should be or what it once was. Will we welcome the Lord’s plea for us to restore that love? -Jim MacIntosh