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APRIL 5
THE FIRST LOVE
“To the angel of the church of Ephesus write: ‘…you have persevered and
have patience, and have labored for my name’s sake and have not become
weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have abandoned
your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent
and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your
lampstand from its place—unless you repent.” (Rev 2: 1, 3-5)
In the above-cited passage in the Book of Revelation, the Lord sends
this message to the “angel” (in our terms, the bishop) of the church in
Ephesus, and talks about a quite subtle loss of his “first love” for the
Lord. This reminds me of my own “first love,” that is, the love I had for
Him at first, when I first consciously heard Christ’s call to me. Every
Christian is “called,” at some point, in some way, and in this passage we
are reminded to keep fresh our initial, loving response to that call; to “do
the first works” we did in response to Christ, and “repent,” that is, have
“metanoia” – a change of mind or focus.
The way I keep “the love I had at first” fresh is through a daily “conversion,”
a daily re-focusing on Christ, Who calls me anew every day. I rekindle my
“first love” from the moment I wake up, placing my focus squarely on
Him, in heartfelt prayer and a bit of contemplation of His word. I ask that
He not remove my “lampstand from its place”; that is, the grace-filled
light of His word from my heart.
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