LOVE...OR ELSE

"I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don't tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. But I have this complaint against you. You don't love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen from your first love! Turn back to Me again and work as you did at first. If you don't I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches." Revelation 2:2-5

After John comes face-to-face with Jesus and commits himself to obedience, following Jesus’s command to write down everything he sees, Jesus starts to tell John what to write. He starts with a letter to the church in Ephesus, one of the seven churches He told John to send His message to. There are several critical takeaways from this letter that we would be well-served to adopt in our personal lives.

First, Jesus knows all the things that we do. Just as He was totally aware of all the good and bad in the church in Ephesus, He is also totally aware of all the good and bad in each one of us. Jesus knows our innermost thoughts and feelings. It is impossible to be superficial in the presence of Christ for He can see through us…literally.

Question: When Jesus looks within you, what does He see?

Second, we all do please Jesus when we live in obedience to His Word, Will and Way. The church in Ephesus worked hard for the Lord, displayed patient endurance, didn’t tolerate evil people, flushed out false apostles, and suffered patiently without quitting. They had built up a lot of favor with Jesus.

Question: What have you done in obedience to Jesus that would lead Him to look on you with favor?

Finally, Jesus explains to the Ephesus church as well as all of us that without love for Him and each other, any favor we have gained will quickly be replaced by judgment. For Ephesus, the penalty was removing their lamp stand from the midst of the other churches. The Ephesian church would perish minus the love that Jesus expected from them. And so will we. Remember that when Jesus was asked about the greatest commandments, He replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength…and love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 12:30-31) The commands are simple: love the Lord and love one another. The key is love and it’s the key because Jesus was the perfect definition of love. He wants us to model His character in how we approach love as well.

Question: How well have you loved Jesus lately? How about one another?

There isn’t a whole lot of gray area in Jesus’s words today. It comes down to a rather simple decision: Love…or else.

What will your choice be?

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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