In The Word
Read: Revelation 2:1-7
2 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:
2 ‘I know your deeds and your labor and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people, and you have put those who call themselves apostles to the test, and they are not, and you found them to be false; 3 and you have perseverance and have endured on account of My name, and have not become 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 I will remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. 6 But you have this, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.7 The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant to eat from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.’
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
What our Lord revealed through John to the seven churches in his day are so important to our churches today. The things that we will be looking at in the next two chapters are things that Christ still looks at today. Ephesus had things they were doing right and things they were doing wrong. What’s amazing is that our Lord cares enough about us to let us know one way or another so that we can make the proper adjustments. Does the church leadership have ears to hear what the Spirit would say to the church that they are leading? I pray that every local church would have the humility to make the proper adjustments to bring the body of believers to a place of being completely pleasing to the Lord. Notice that our Lord has the power to remove that church from its place. This means He can shut it down, move it, or re-launch it as He sees fit. Remember, the local church belongs to Him not us.
The Lord loved that the church couldn’t tolerate evil, hated false doctrine, and was careful about who they received from. We should follow this example in our churches today. However, our Lord corrected them for leaving their first love. They started out embracing a rich, flourishing relationship with Christ only to leave it behind through the course of time. They kept holding on to His structure but failing to hold on to the relationship. How many a marriage has made this same mistake? So what are we supposed to do? Return to the relationship while continuing to hold on to the structure. We must do the same in our marriages and in our covenant with Christ.