Over the next week we will be taking a closer look at the seven letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor. The Christian movement had spread rapidly in the first decades after Christ and was now in its second generation. There were two main persistent challenges for the early church, one external and one internal. They faced persecution from without and false divisive teaching from within. The church in Ephesus had stood firmly against these threats. But a church must not be known for what it is against. It must be known for what it is for. And this was the problem with the Ephesian church. The church was fighting for its life but forgetting what it lived for. The Ephesians had lost their first love. All too often Christians have focused on trying to do and believe the right things in conscious opposition to those who act and believe differently. When we do this, we don’t shine a light but cast a shadow as we try to overshadow others with our correctness. What makes us shine brightly is our genuine love for God which overflows in our love for all people. People then see how wonderful God is, by our love, peace and joy. In our time we Christians are known more for what we are against than what we are for. It is up to each one of us to change this stereotype. “Delight yourself in the Lord,” and be open about your first love. Be known for what you are for, not what you are against.
Ask God to show you where you might have gone astray in action or attitude.
Read Revelation 2:1-7.
