First Love

Revelation 2:1-5

2 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. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.

“You have forsaken your first love.”

The church in Ephesus was praised for “hard work and perseverance.”

You can do all kinds of work FOR God, but neglect to love Him, have a relationship with Him, and do it all BECAUSE of Him.

That’s pretty dangerous.

Especially for someone like me… You see, I am all to prone to being a workaholic. I like to be the Fix-It Girl, the girl with all the answers, the girl who gets stuff done.

And if I’m not careful, I end up making THAT my identity, instead of finding my identity in my First Love, Jesus Christ.

I love doing ministry. I have been on the mission field in South America for two and a half years, and I love my life. I don’t regret the decisions I’ve made that have brought me here, and I wouldn’t trade this life for anything.

BUT

I love DOING ministry so much that it is easy for me to neglect my First Love. I can get up in the morning and spend my days in evangelism and discipleship, without actually spending any time with my Savior and LORD. I can “persevere and endure hardships,” but I must repent of this: leaving my First Love.

There is a delicate balance here. Because we must LOVE the Lord, whether He chooses to use us or not. We must LOVE the Lord, whether He chooses to bless us or not. We must LOVE the Lord and live to bring glory to HIS name, even if our names are forgotten.

I don’t want to forsake my First Love. I want to care a whole lot more about His name than my own. I want to persevere, not for my own glory, but for His Kingdom.