11/6/14- Revelation 2

4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. (Revelation 2)

The church of Ephesus was blessed at its founding.  Paul went there and stayed longer than anywhere else in Asia Minor.  When Paul was called to go to Jerusalem, the Ephesian elders met him and wept.  Timothy was one of the first bishops of Ephesus.  The Apostle John went to Ephesus and probably died there.  There is a house on top of the hill overlooking Ephesus that tradition says is the house of Mary the Mother of Jesus that John cared for in her latter days.
     Yet the second generation of Christians were Christians in practice but not in heart.  They had the tradition.  They believed in the change in their parents.  But they were missing the love.  So the advice was to reignite the spark of love in their hearts.  To do that they were to repent, remember the old ways, Kind of like going back to the old places that ignited the spark of love, they were called to think back to their first zeal of belief and re-oignite the spark.  We all need to do that.  We all need to consider if our love is what it used to be or what it needs to be.  Loving God is the first commandment, and the church dies out (the lampstand is extinguished) if we do not get that love back. 

Prayer: Lord, let your love flow in me and awake inside me.