Revelation 2:1-5 “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent."
The Ephesians were doing some things well. They endured. They tested false prophets. They hadn’t grown weary. They had just grown accustomed to the way things were. They had melded into the status quo, and they had chosen to stay there. They had lost their first love, their zeal, their excitement to be who God was calling them to be, and to do all He was calling them to do.
They had become a nice church, bearing up, patiently enduring. But instead of losing their lives for the sake of Christ, instead of abandoning everything for the love of Jesus, they abandoned that first love and lived in the safety of their routine.
What’s the big deal? The big deal is that Jesus said He would personally remove their light if they didn’t give themselves fully to the cause of Christ. It makes me wonder about the church today. How do we hide in the safety of our church practices? Is Jesus calling us to something higher, something more than what we are living out today?
It comes down to the question of what we truly value. Do we value living for Jesus, and sacrificing our lives for Him, or do we value our security, our possessions and our own desires?
The Ephesians needed to make a choice. But that church is gone. I wonder what they chose.
We also have a choice. What will you choose?