Revelation chapter 2 starts the writings to the 7 churches and it starts with the church in Ephesus.
Oh to be like one in Ephesus. The report sounds so good. “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance.” We are working for the lord and enduring through what seems to be an endless amount of evil and hate against us, yet we are preserving.
“I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false.” We know how to make sure people are apostles and that they are actually doing the work of God. That is good right. We are working for the lord and weeding out all of those who do not measure up to what the law says.
“I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary.” We have been at it for a while and we are not giving up. We know the importance of this message and need to see it through and we will not allow the evil doers and the hate in the world stop us from bringing the message that you can not do that, you must repent.
“But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” Whoa, wait a minute Jesus what do you mean we have abandoned our first love? We are doing all of these things for you and making sure that people are following the way they should and that we all act the same and do the same things as your disciples. “Remember from where you have fallen and repent…”
Remember the first time you felt the love of God pour over your being. It was a feeling of a warm embrace, that I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt I did not deserve. I was loved by someone who really had no business loving me because of the person I was. But isn’t that just it. God knew me, and yet still loved me. He saw the inner most parts of my being and yet still wanted to be in a relationship with me.
I really think we have all forgotten our first love. We have lost the connection with God by trying to live the right way, do the right things, be the right kind of people. We have lost the reckless love of God that accepted us. We have lost the love of God that moves us to do radical things in his name.
We want to be safe and have God in our box so we can control it, but we have to let God have control. I am reading The Fidelity of Betrayal by Peter Rollins and in the last chapter he talks about how we have to name God in order to understand God, but the whole point of this is we can not understand God, nor are we really ever suppose to. We name things that we posses, and God is not a thing to posses but is someone to be possessed by. God is not something we name, but is someone who names and claims us.
Return to the reckless love of the one who knows you and yet still loves you enough to name you and claim you as his own.
aSacredRebel 