Returning To Your First Love

“According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

1 Corinthians 3:10–11

The church at Ephesus in Revelation was getting many things right. In fact, we would consider them a thriving and successful church. But look at what Jesus said to them.

“I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 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."

To forsake means to abandon something as if it no longer has value or importance. The word fallen means a descent from a higher place to a lower; It is not a temporary fall, it is to fall and remain there. Despite all the success they were enjoying, they were functioning on a much lower plane than when they had first begun.

Almost always, historical awakenings were about recovering something that had been lost, causing the church to function from a lesser place.

How serious was it at Ephesus? They were at risk of being removed as a viable church. What about all the good they were doing? With the loss of their first love, they were running on fumes. The residue of what they once had was sustaining them for a time, but it would at some point dissipate.

This illustrates my motivation behind "Back to the Basics" to bring attention to lost foundations that have caused the church to operate on a much lower plane than she was created for. Clearly, the Ephesus church was unaware of its fallen state, and because they were succeeding in other areas, most likely did not see the need to make any changes.

What does it mean to lose your first love?

It is easy to fall in love with ministry and forget it is our love for Him out of which ministry flows. My love for the church flows out of the love I have for Him. I am not in love with ministry or the church. The church is His bride, not mine.

It is easy to operate in our grace giftings and become comfortable and or complacent. Success often hides disconnection and lost intimacy, because our giftings continue to function.

Jesus told His disciples in one of His last discourses that they must be connected to Him as a branch is connected to the vine. To lose our first love is to be disconnected from Him. Like a branch separated from the vine, it will survive for a time, but eventually it will wither and die.

There is something about the loss of our first love that causes our motives to become corrupt, and although we may continue to do the same things, our heart is misaligned. We cease to function out of love.

Jesus speaks to those who did works of power in His name, but then turns to them and says I never knew you.

Look at Paul's posture in Philippians.

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.

To count everything else a loss to gain Christ is a powerful statement. Our knowledge of Him which flows out of our connection with Him supersedes everything else we may consider of value.

When Peter and John brought healing to the man at the gate on their way to the synagogue, they were brought before the Jewish leadership. Here is the assessment of those leaders.

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.”

It is not about how educated you are, what you know or don't know, or even what training you have had; the question is, have you been with Jesus? It is how our first love began, it is how we keep it, and it is how we return to it.