July 20, 2023: Things That Stand In The Way

"But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first." (Revelation 2:4, ESV)

The primary message to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 is the call to love God with all our hearts. At times, things stand in the way of our loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. The church of Ephesus had lost its first love. 
    
If you do not stay intentional about growing together, you will drift apart. Jesus is coming to the church of Ephesus to remind her of His love and to reveal to her that she had drifted from His love. The word used in the passage is 'abandoned' or 'left behind,' your first love.
    
How do you abandon your love for Jesus? There are many ways for us to leave our love for Jesus behind. Familiarity is one of the biggest destroyers of love relationships. We start taking our relationship with Jesus for granted. We forget the price He paid to have a relationship with us. We let the 'specialness' of that relationship fade away. We also leave the love of Jesus behind us when we let something else or someone else take His place. The enemy will always tempt us with things that are 'more appealing' than Jesus. A third reason is that we drift away. The problem with drifting away is that we usually do not recognize we have drifted from Him.

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