Pastor Article 08-18-24

The key to understanding the letter to the Church at Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-7 is to know the passion of first love. There are a couple of life experiences that can help you understand this. It requires you remembering when you first started dating your spouse and how you were head over heels in love. All you wanted to do was be with them. If you weren’t in their company, you wanted to be talking to them on the phone, or you were thinking about your next date or time together. With fondness you can probably remember the first date or first kiss. Hopefully, that spark is still burning in your marital relationship.

The other experience is more in line with the topic of Revelation 2. It is the time when you gave your life to Christ. Do you remember when you first got saved and were so eager to learn what the Bible said, and what God wanted you to do? The joy of knowing that Jesus loved you and that He had great plans for your life! You couldn’t wait to get to church, to find your place of service, to learn more about Him. I remember how I hated to go to church before I got saved. After I accepted Christ, I had to work on Wednesday nights and it killed me knowing that church was going on and I couldn’t be there. So, I moved to third shift so I could go to church on Wednesday nights. After I accepted Christ, I loved to sing songs about God, to God and with God’s people. I loved the preaching of His Word and eventually was called to preach, and to this day I still love preaching His Word. To think that I used to hate sitting in the church and listening to the preaching of His Word almost makes me laugh now. When I understood how much Jesus loved me, I fell in love with Him. The joy of that love relationship is overwhelming at times.
Do you remember when you fell in love with Jesus and were willing to do any and every thing He asked you to do? Remember the first love and ask yourself how far you are from that place and time in your life right now.
Pastor,
Rev. Wayne Marcus