Forgotten Love

I opened the Word today to Revelation 2. Jesus is describing how this church in Ephesus left their first love. The Greek word for love in this passage is agape love, selfless, sacrificial, and unconditional. It's the kind of love God has for all humanity. Look at the things Jesus approved about this church:

• I know your works, your labor, your patience

• You cannot bear those who are evil

• You have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars

• You have persevered and have patience

• You have labored for My name's sake

• You have not become weary

That's a pretty good list of positive things for Christ followers. It would be easy to become proud of those accomplishments as a body of believers. They could easily check off the boxes for the works part of their journey. However, the one thing that counts the most they had lost. Maybe in all the labor of trying to do the right things they became dependent upon their talents and heart to do good. We can assume from the definition of agape love that these wonderful people had become selfish to the point of loving themselves more than others. This is scary to me because all of us have a tendency to fall into a religious mindset instead of staying pure in the eyes of God.

Jesus explains that the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the lampstands are the seven churches. He states that unless this church repents and returns to their first love, He would quickly remove them from that place. If they repented and became those filled with the agape love of Jesus, He would let them eat from the tree of life in heaven.

Agape love isn't easy to attain. It requires continual sacrifice. It requires unconditional love of others who don't deserve anything good. It requires us to put down our own selfish desires and look out for the welfare of others. It isn't good works that God wants from us, even though we will do good works when we love Him, but a heart that is selfless and sacrificial. Each of us has to monitor our own heart for no one else can do it for us. If Jesus were to write a letter about the state of our heart, what would He say? What would be the pros and cons? Checking boxes won't make us pleasing to the Father, only a heart that is selfless and sacrificial.

Do a heart check today. Go to the Great Physician and ask Him to shine His light on your heart. It's better to know now what needs to be fixed than wait until the Judgement. Blessings.

Deb