Love to hear from and know who is listening
Revelation chapter 2 begins with a series of letters to seven churches. One of those was the church in Ephesus. The city was famous for its temple of Diana and pilgrims came to Ephesus from all over the Mediterranean to worship the goddess. Jesus affirms the Ephesians’ positive actions. He tells them, I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. The Ephesian church was a hard-working group of believers full of fortitude. However, Jesus also notes their shortcoming. He said, yet I hold this against you. You have forsaken your first love. They were hard-working, but they no longer had the same passion for Christ as when they first believed. Their work was no longer motivated by love. To explain this better let's our imagination for a moment. Suppose I told my wife Joyce, we need to talk. We sit down and I tell her that I just don't love her anymore. I tell her that I haven't been unfaithful and I am not going to leave her. I am going to continue to do all the things a husband should, I will provide for our household and family. I will take part in all the activities that we have always done. I will attend church, go to work functions and come home every night as if nothing has changed and as far as the public is concerned no one will know any different, but I simply don't love you any longer. How do you think Joyce would respond? I am confident her response would not be, okay no problem... This is what was happening at the church at Ephesus. They were still working and serving but they had lost the love they once had for Jesus Christ. All your effort and hard work is worthless if you don't have love!
1 Corinthians 13: 1-3 ESV If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Like the Ephesian church, we can easily fall prey to a cold, mechanical observance of religion. Like the Ephesians, we can have everything but the greatest thing, love! Many tend to focus solely on hard work, programs and events for everyone, children's church, Sunday school, bible study and a multitude of other programs and forget that the most important thing, the greatest thing is a true love for Christ. As the letter the Ephesians shows, no amount of zeal for the truth or true doctrine can replace a heart full of love for Jesus. The 16 inches between the head and the heart can be the greatest distance of all!
1 Corinthians 13: 13 ESV So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
