Revelation 2:4-5 (NKJV) 4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 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.
This is our Lord’s assessment of a second-generation Ephesian Church which had been known for its love of Christ, the Gospel and the church (Ephesians 1:15; 3:17-19; 6:23). They needed to return, (repent) to their former love of Christ. They had maintained their orthodoxy but had cooled in their “affections,” as Spurgeon would have put it.
I was reminded of this danger as a listened to a song called “IT’s About The Cross.” The chorus says it well:
“It’s about the cross, it’s about my sin
It’s about how Jesus came to be born once
So that we could be born again
It’s about the stone that was rolled away
So that you and I could have real life someday
It’s about the cross.”
As the whole song reminded me, it’s not about my felt needs, not about my desires, not about my success, not about my ambitions, rather the whole of history is about the Providential orchestration of history to bring Christ to the Cross because of my sin.
When I focus on that act of love, that mastering of historical events, that eternal decree to send the “lamb slain before the foundation of the world” to the Cross of Calvary BECAUSE of my sin, I find myself jolted back to the true reality of the work of God in Christ. I find myself in humbled worship because of the Gospel.
There is no truth, no doctrine, no want, no desire, that rises to the height of the Gospel. I find myself amazed, awe-struck, and in deep worship when I consider that demonstration of God’s love (Romans 5:5; 1 John 3:1,16). There is no power, no hope and certainly no message, that can measure to the height of the love of Christ as it is reveal in the Gospel.
Can we as believers ever really tire of the Gospel? If so, have we lost our first love? I think that would be the case. It is so easy to lose sight of that work of God, on behalf the believer, that places him or her in a right relationship with Him. It’s what causes us to look for “more,” when there is no more greatness to found except in the love of Christ, the hope of Glory (Colossians 1:17) embodied in the Gospel.
Let me remind me and possibly you… Our “significance” is found in the love of Christ who holds us in His hands for his purposes and His glory (Ephesians 1:3:11).
If your first love is waning, return to the Cross, see your Savior, contemplate your hopelessness without His saving grace.
-Michael Holtzinger