Revelation

Have you ever read about the Seven Churches in Revelation to determine how they may apply to you? I did.

My first stop was at the Church of Ephesus, where God praised them for their:

1. Works

2. Toiling

3. Patient endurance

4. Not tolerating the evil acts of others,

5. Testing others and finding them to be false,

6. Bearing for His name’s sake, and

7. Not growing weary . . . BUT

   
   

Revelation 2:2-4 I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

But God found this against them: They forgot their first Love, as they failed to remember from where they had fallen. So God instructed, “I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”

Revelation 2:5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

When I finally stopped to examine myself, I came to realize that I needed to repent, too. As I share in A Return to My First Love: My Testimony, despite how highly I thought of myself, I was not set apart or holy. In fact, the harder that I worked and the more that I tried, the prouder I became.

Before I knew it I was setting the rules and expectations. I was no longer relying on the Blood of Christ to save me, I was trampling it. Worse yet, I was using God’s Word to injure others. In fact, if the Master of the House sat me at certain tables back then, I acted more like an enemy of God, not a friend of His.

2 Timothy 2:20-21 Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

Yet, God did not call me to only sit with people that I like or that are easy to Love. God has called me to be known by my LOVE, not by my preferences. When I returned to My First Love I was reminded that, “if I give away all that I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

1 Corinthians 13:3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

John 13:35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

At Seek First we simply want to encourage you to examine yourself today, not your fellow man, as we each return daily to our first Love, Jesus Christ. While I may work hard and have many good intentions, without Christ-Like LOVE I will not eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

We hope to see you there.

Revelation 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.