In what sense had these believers forsaken their first love? (Revelation 2:4)
Context: Revelation 2:4 "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 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 lampstand from its place." Can believers still leave their first love today? If so, how?
Revelation 2:1 - 7
ESV - 1 To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: 'The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 'I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.
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Asked October 03 2021
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Jack Gutknecht
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Tim Maas
Although the glorified Christ had many positive things to say to the Christian congregation at Ephesus, He also characterized them as having "abandoned" their first love. I interpret this to mean that, when the Ephesians were originally converted to Christianity, they had initially practiced their religion with genuine enthusiasm and zeal. However, over time, although they were still performing commendable acts, they were now carrying them out in a perfunctory way out of "force of habit", or because they viewed those acts as something that they "had" to do, rather than performing them with ongoing joy arising from a personal sense of serving Christ by doing so. This is something that even believers of the present day should be aware of in their spiritual lives.
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