LOVE OR ELSE!

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lamp stands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for My name, and have not grown weary.

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider 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 lamp stand from its place.

But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Revelation 2:1-6

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

After John comes face-to-face with Jesus and commits himself to obedience, following Jesus’ command to write down everything he sees at the end of Revelation 1, we find Jesus start to tell John what to write at the beginning of chapter 2. He starts with a letter to the church in Ephesus, one of the seven churches He told John to send His message to.

As we examine this letter, there are several critical takeaways that we would be well-served to adopt in our own 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 so it’s literally impossible to be invisible or even obscured while in the presence of Christ for He can everything we do and everything within us, even our deepest thoughts.

Reflection points: When Jesus looks at what you do and within you, what does He see? Would He see things that glorify and honor Him, showing that you are indeed in Him as a Christian?

Second, we need to remember that we 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 without quitting.

Indeed, they had built up a lot of favor with their Savior, Jesus.

Reflection points: What have you done in obedience to Jesus that would lead Him to look on you with favor? As you reflect on what you do at the end of each day, do you go to sleep in peace, knowing your day has shown you are a faithful Christian servant and disciple?

Finally, Jesus explains to the Ephesus church ( as well as us) that without love for Him and each other, any favor we have gained will quickly be replaced by judgment. In regard to the church of Ephesus, the penalty was removing their lamp stand from the midst of the other churches. In other words, the Ephesian church would perish unless they showed the kind of love that Jesus expected from them.

And so will it be with us as well.

You may 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 here are simple.

We’re to love the Lord and then, in turn, love one another. The key is love and it’s the key because Jesus was the perfect definition of love, a love that He wants us to model as we live and go to make disciples, just as He commanded. After all, isn’t being a Christian supposed to be about being Christ-like, emulating Him in the way we go through each day we’re blessed with?

We honor Him the most when others see Him in the way we live daily, especially in the way we love.

Final reflection points: How well have you shown your devotion and love for Jesus lately? And the second one is like this: Have you shown the love of Jesus in the way you have loved others?

Brothers and sisters, there isn’t a whole lot of gray area in these words of Jesus today, words dictated for John to write to the church of Ephesus. In the end translation, His expectation comes down to a rather simple call.

Love…or else!

What will your choice be?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.