Jesus
demands more than just that we labor but that our labor be a labor of love for
Him. In Revelation 2 Jesus tells the church of Ephesus, a church that was
commended by Him for their work, labor, patience, discernment and more, that if
they did not repent they would cease to be His church. Repent of what you may ask? Of their dead
loveless works as Jesus told them in verse 4 “I have this against
you, that you have left your first love.”
You see the church of Ephesus started strong, founded by the great
Apostle Paul and even pastored at some point by the Apostle John. However at some time in history their loving
devotion turned into loveless tradition. Jesus in His grace and mercy is
calling them back to what truly matters, a loving relationship with Him.
What
is true of a church in Asia Minor 2000 years ago is true of many Christians
today. We get saved, and at first we are just thrilled with the fact “I am my
beloved’s, And my beloved is mine.” (Song 6:3) the wondrous thought
that the God of the universe loves us and has given His Son to the cross to
redeem us thrills our hearts and our labor flows naturally out of our joy! It
seems there is something about time that robs us of our zeal. At some point
there is a change and the things we used to do out of love we now do out of
habit and we start going through the motions with Jesus.
Jesus
will by no means tolerate a loveless bride. Can you think of a greater insult
for a groom on his wedding day then to see a disinterested bride walking “ho
hum” down the aisle? We insult Him when we just go through the motions. Not to
mention we rob ourselves of joy. Jesus’
exhortation to loveless Ephesus was to repent and “Remember therefore from
where you have fallen; ”(Rev. 2:5.) Brothers and sisters take some time to go
back and remember what it felt like when you first got saved, the joy of
knowing Jesus the One and only. Let’s go back there and stay there.
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