“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” (Rev. 2:4).
What is it about our first love that makes it so important to the Lord? It is a love that has not yet been tested by the challenges of life, yet it is full of faith and hope. Even though it is young and may have more words than reality, it is full of zeal. This zeal is not fleshly passion, but a fervency of spirit which is to be maintained throughout our Christian walk (Rom. 12:11).
The Lord gave this admonition to the church in Ephesus near the end of the first century. This was a church birthed in revival (Acts 19:1-20). So powerful was the demonstration of the Spirit that “all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus” (vs. 10) and “the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.” (vs. 20). In the time of their first love, the fear of the Lord came upon them and “many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds.” (vs. 18). They were still babes in the Lord, but they were alive and growing.
Later, Paul wrote and exhorted them to walk as children of light (Eph. 5:8). They were still not mature as believers, but he said they were full of faith and love (Eph. 1:15), and he instructed them to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might (Eph. 6:10). As newborn babes they had come to know and believe the love that God had for them (1Jn. 4:16). Then as children, they were learning to walk by faith in love. The fruit of the Spirit was developing in them as they were learning to overcome the enemy. They were becoming spiritual young men who are strong in the Lord and have overcome the evil one (1Jn. 2:12-14). This stage of spiritual maturity is victorious Christian living, but it is still not the state of “a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 4:13). The later stage occurs when, having gained victory over the enemy, we once again become like children in humility and walk in perfected love. Mature believers have not only learned to overcome the evil one; they continue to walk in their first love. “I write to you little children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning.” (vs. 13 and 14).
As we ponder the message the Lord gave to the Ephesian church in the book of Revelations, we can take note and guard our hearts. In the last article we discussed walking in the fruit of self-control for victory over the flesh and the devil. The danger that occurs when we experience victories over the enemy is that we can become devil-focused instead of God-focused. When the disciples returned rejoicing that the demons were subject to them, Jesus affirmed their authority, but He exhorted them to rejoice instead that their names were written in heaven. (Lu. 10:17-20). Regardless of how many victories we experience, we can never assume that we will never fall. “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” (1Cor. 10:12). There are many ways the enemy tries to defeat us. If he cannot steal the word from us, he tries to discourage us with opposition or he tries to distract us with the cares and things of this world (Matt. 13:18-23). We know that the Ephesian church had initially kept the words of Jesus and had not been defeated by persecutions (Rev. 2:2,3). They had, however, lost their first love. They were too busy “doing” and not taking enough time to maintain their relationship with the Lord.
How can we keep from falling into that trap? For me, it always goes back to the proverb, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Prov. 16:18). I was listening to a teaching on humility recently and the minister made an interesting point. He said that it is easier to see pride in others than in ourselves because our own pride will blind us from recognizing it. In my own walk, I have found that if I am not responding to the correction of the Lord in my conscience, He will then try to correct me through circumstances or the rebuke of a friend. But even for those methods to work, I need to be sensitive to what the Lord is trying to say through them. Rather than complain when things do not go right, I make an effort to give thanks in every situation (1Thess. 5:18), which is the first step to seeing God in it. Rather than defending myself when I am corrected, I try always to discern whether the Lord may be trying to say something to me, and if He is, I “agree quickly with my adversary” (Matt. 5:25).
There is another occasion in the New Testament that may reveal something about what was happening to the Ephesian church. The first letter to Timothy was written when Paul had resumed his travels after the first Roman imprisonment. Timothy had been left in Ephesus to help establish them because they were starting to give heed to teachings based on the traditions of men. “I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather then godly edification which is in faith.” (1Tim. 1:3,4). By the time John sends them the message from the Lord, they have works, but not the kind that pleases the Lord. We know that the Lord is more concerned with who we are than with what we do, but works are nonetheless important. “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.” (Rev. 2:5). The works that please the Lord are those that issue from love, not legalism.
When I was praying to understand the Lord’s message to the Ephesian church, I was directed to see the role of the Holy Spirit in their growth. The Book of Acts records their baptism in the Holy Spirit, and the revival that followed (Acts 19). After being sealed with the Spirit of promise (Eph. 1:13), they were to receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Eph. 1:17). They were to walk worthy of their calling, maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:1-3). They were to walk as wise men, filled with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:15-18). If we want to walk in our first love, we must continue to walk in communion with the Holy Spirit (2Cor. 13:14), the Spirit of grace and love.
Highway in the Wilderness 