AP

Revelation 2:4  Yet I hold this against you:  You have forsaken the love you had at first.

The Church at Ephesus was the first one referred to in the ‘Letters to the Seven Churches’ conveyed through the Apostle John from the Risen Christ (cf verse 1 – “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:”.  The Church at Ephesus is praised for the way it has persevered in the faith and maintained a strong stand against error (verses 2-3).  It was not easy to speak out against ‘false apostles’ who, from among their very own membership, were teaching heresy.  Taking such a stand is never popular in any age, and can be emotionally and spiritually quite draining.  Nevertheless, they had ‘not grown weary’ (3).

Where they had failed, however, was in keeping the spark of their love for Christ alive.  At the end of the Book of Revelation the picture of the Church as the ‘Bride of Christ’ is the one that is given.   It is also the one the apostle Paul had used in the letter he wrote to the Church at Ephesus (5:21-32).  The Scriptures use many different models to describe the Church: the Head-body (1 Corinthians 12); Builder-bulding (1 Peter 2); Shepherd-flock (Psalm 100:3, 1 Peter 5:2-4); Captain-Army (1 Corinthians 9:7, Ephesians 6:10-20, 2 Timothy 2:4); and others – each one helping us to understand a different aspect of how we are to function and serve together in Christ.

The ‘Bridegroom-Bride’ model helps us to understand the concepts  of love, devotion, commitment and faithfulness, focussing on the covenant that exists between God and his redeemed people.  Marriage is an area of our lives where it is easy to allow the first spark of love to die down, and perhaps even go out, under the pressure of all the duties and responsibilities that come with the territory.  How much effort do we put into our relationships to keep the spark of courting and honeymoon love alive?  In our Church life, do we spend so much time and energy in defending the truth – important and worthwhile as this might be –  that we forget to love passionately?

My daily devotional exercises include reading  Spurgeon’s ‘Morning & Evening’, and it is interesting to be confronted often with this spiritual giant’s absolute devotion to his Saviour in language that was quite appropriate in his nineteenth century cultural context but, sadly, whose soppy, maudlin language can make us feel a bit uncomfortable in our ‘more enlightened/sophisticated’ age!  It is good to reflect on the story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38-42.  Martha was ‘distracted by all the preparations’ – she wanted to make sure everything was ‘right’, that nothing was out of place; Mary ‘sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said’, and received Jesus’ commendation: “Mary has chosen what is better”.  Are we as excited about our love for our Saviour as we were when we first came to be aware of his great love for us?  He has not forsaken his great love for us that took him to the cross!

– Bruce Christian