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Day 277 Promise 745 Revelation 2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things say he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; 2 I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou cannot bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: 3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast labored, and hast not fainted. 4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. 6 But this thou hast, that thou hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He who hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches; To him who overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. As we go through life, we do everything we can to have a meaningful life. Yet, we get caught up in the everyday activities and events directly related to us and those events taking place in the world. Our attention wavers, and we find those things which were important, no longer hold the same meaning or value they once did. Jesus told John to write to the seven churches and let them know how they strayed from the path and followed the world. Ephesus became complacent in their love and devotion to Jesus Christ. They still gathered to give Him praise, yet their heart wasn’t in it. They went through the motions. They did all the right things. They hated evil, but they didn’t do anything about the evil around them. Jesus told them they needed to get out of their complacent attitude, repent and return to their first love, their uncompromised zeal and love of Jesus Christ. When they did, they would find paradise open to them and could eat from the tree of life. As Christians, you remember the day you accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord. You remember your hunger for the Word. You couldn’t wait for the doors to open so you could worship with other believers. You spent time in prayer and Bible study. You couldn’t get enough of the Word. Every word on every page of your Bible held new meaning. You bought highlighters to mark those important passages. You took your pen and underlined, circled, boxed, wrote in the margins, everything that gave you that ah-ha moment as you basked in God’s presence. As time went on, did the hunger remain? Was your zeal as strong? Do you still wait for the doors to open so you can go in and worship with other believers? Or is your Bible gathering dust? Do you sleep in on Sunday morning? Do you turn off your alarm, hit the snooze button, and when you come fully awake realize you missed another opportunity to bask in God’s presence with other believers? What happened to your first love? What happened to your zeal? What happened to your telling everyone you encountered about your encounter with Jesus Christ and your salvation moment? Jesus is talking to you. He wants you to remember the moment when you committed your life to Him. He wants you to repent and return to Him with all the zeal of your first love for Him. His promise when you do is that you will eat from the tree of life in the middle of heaven, the same tree of life that was in the middle of the Garden of Eden. It’s there waiting for you. All you need to do is repent and return to God. Get rid of complacency and remember what it was like when you accepted Jesus as your Savior and Lord. Let’s pray: Father, give me a new zeal for Your Word. I repent of my complacent attitude. Renew my heart and mind for Your Word and let me reach out to tell the nations about Your intense love for them. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. Copyright © 15 May 2021 by Valerie Routhieaux Image courtesy of Pixabay