Back to Your First Love

In Revelation 2:2-7 Jesus addresses the Ephesus Church. He speaks of their stand against evil, their perseverance, and hating what He hates. BUT, He also states they have lost their first love and it was serious enough that He calls them to repentance by going back to their first deeds. If they do not come back to their first love, He says He will remove their lampstand.

Let’s look at the Bible passage, break it down, explore what first love means, what losing first love means, ways we can lose our first love, how we can prevent it, and what to do if we lose our First Love.

² ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; ³ and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. ⁴ But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ⁵ Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. ⁶ Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ⁷ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’

Revelation 2:2-7NASB

Remove Lampstand

To remove their lampstand means the Ephesus church will forfeit its ability to shine as a witness for Christ and have a lack of spiritual vitality. The Ephesus church could get to the point it no longer exists.

Notice in verse 7 it says Him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life. The opposite would mean that he who does not overcome will not have eternal life. Those are strong words, and they are words that would seem to apply to us as individuals.

What is First Love-Good Deeds

Jesus says the Ephesians lost their first love, to repent and to do the deeds they first did. First love is the concept of having a passionate, heartfelt devotion towards God when we first got born again. Much of it was rooted in our sudden revelation of God’s love, mercy, forgiveness towards us as sinners.

Our first love towards God might have manifested itself by the following deeds: a zeal for prayer, hunger for Scripture, eagerness for fellowship (at church every time the doors are open, boldness, or at least desire to share the Gospel to everyone.

It should be noted that if it was a pure first love it was not based upon religious duty but an affection for Christ, an affection for others rather lost or saved.

If a person is truly born again, there should be some evidence that they had a first love type of experience-a Spiritual Awakening.

Evidence of a Loss of First Love

The evidence of a loss of first love would be when an individual is “going through the motions”. If honoring, serving, loving God, having fellowship with other believers is treated more like a hobby or a duty, most likely there is the loss of your first love.

What normally happens is daily devotion disappears. spiritual joy fades, worship feels empty, and loving God seems like a duty.

Take note: You can stand for righteousness, you can be living a godly life, you can be doing ministry, you can be busy doing the things of God and it all be a form of religion with no power. It becomes a lifestyle of religion, not relationship with Christ.

How Does the Loss of First Love Takes Place?

There are several factors that can lead us to a loss of our first love for God, for Jesus:
-Not born again: We never had a first love experience. We came to Christ out of fear, out of duty, to have something fixed in our life, to go to heaven by the ‘skin of our teeth’. We may not have been truly born again. We never truly experienced the love of Christ.

-Routine and Habit: Over time attending church, worship, prayer, Bible reading becomes mechanical. We do the right things only because we should, or out of fear, if we do not do the right things we are afraid of the consequences.

-Busy, Distractions: Other things become more important than spiritual intimacy with God. Life responsibilities, or even ministry, become more important than relationship with God.

-Spiritual Complacency: Lukewarmness, laziness.

-Offense: We allow situations and circumstances to enter our life and we get offended with people, with Christians, with God, and check out spiritually.

-Not abiding in Christ: We do not need to feed our flesh, it will feed itself. We must feed our spirit man, if not he gets weak. Sin will take over.

-Sin: Ultimately much of what causes the loss of our first love is sin. Sin starts to take over our life. Guilt and shame take over our life. The cares of this world leads to us sinning and taking over our life instead of the love of Christ.

How to Prevent Loss of the First Love

First off, we need to say that every one of us can have times where there is a loss of our first love. In fact, almost for sure every Christian has found themselves at some point in life (even if it is just days or weeks) that they do not have the love for Christ, the love of Christ, the love for the things of Christianity, the passion to share God and Their Story with others. If this is the case today, cry out to God in repentance.

Here are some things we can and should be doing to prevent us from losing our first love:
-Do not embrace sin, instead embrace righteousness

-Do not compromise with sin

-Do not grow bitter, resentful

-Keep your eyes on Jesus, not man

-Feed the spirit man through devotional reading, prayer, heartfelt worship, fellowship, ministering to others, meditating on the goodness of God.

-Continutiously seek a refilling of the Holy Spirit

-Abide in Christ. Seek Him to be your all in all.

-Be accountable with others that you trust. That requires being open and vulnerable.

How to Restore Your First Love

Here are things each of us can do if we find ourselves away from our first love:
– Repent

-Remind ourselves of the work God has done in our life. Think back on all the testimonies of His grace in your life. The miracles you have experienced. The Hand of God in your life.

-Focus on getting closer to the Lord. Seek intimacy with Him. Do not let guilt or shame sidetrack you from His love.

-Read the Bible, seeing it as your daily sustenance. Ask God to speak to you through His Word.

-Ask God to put a fire in you to serve others. To place a spirit of joy in you as you serve.

-Ask the Father for a fresh burden and passion for the lost. To have His heart for the lost.

-Enter into daily worship of the King of kings and Lord of lords. embrace a spirit of praise.

-Ask God for a fresh outpouring of His Spirit upon you.

Are You Truly Born Again?

Ask yourself if you are truly born again. If the items we listed to help restore you to your first love have never been in your life there is a good chance that you do not have a saving relationship with Christ.

Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart. Ask Him to reveal to you if you died today, would you have eternal life or eternal damnation. Become born again if you do not have the assurance of salvation.

Resources

Here are some resources for you:

Are You Truly Born Again?
Are You Going to Heaven Quiz?
Abide in Christ

Back to Your First Love Podcast

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