You have forsaken your first love. Revelation 2:4

“The good is ever the enemy of the best.” Think about it. Even in military warfare, an opponent will allow their enemy to win a series of small skirmishes to distract them from readiness for the big battle. They’re so busy taking and occupying acres that they miss the enemy advance on miles. Our enemy employs this tactic against Christians all the time. It’s one of the enemy’s oldest schemes.

However, the Bible tells us that we are not unaware of our enemy’s schemes. Wherever God is at work, you can be certain that the devil is not far behind. He is our enemy who like a roaring lion is seeking whoever he can devour. One of the enemy’s more common schemes is to “defeat us with victory.”

In the context of today’s verse, Jesus applauds his followers in Ephesus for many things: they were serving, discerning, and persevering (vv. 2-3). They were ministering to the practical needs around them; they pursued the truth of good doctrine with care; they faced opposition with diligence, standing firm in their faith. So what’s the problem?

“But I have this against you: You have forsaken your first love” (v. 4). Seriously?? Most of us would be happy to hang out with believers like the Ephesians. They walk the talk, they are discerning, disciplined, and bold. Their tenacity was remarkable. They stayed faithful in the toughest of times.

If you and I were to score the Ephesian believers on a ten-point scale we’d probably place them near the top. Ok, so the first-love thing was a bit weak. But look at all the other stuff. They rock!

Here’s the thing, though…Jesus completely obsesses on that one point. Of the first love issue He says, “If you do not repent I will come to you and remove your lampstand” (v. 5). In other words, He’ll shut them down completely (which historically really happened, by the way).

In Ephesus, the good had become the enemy of the best. The good isn’t bad. It’s just not the best. Last time we talked about spiritual adolescence, a normal stage for Christians as they grow from infancy to maturity. Too many people get stuck there, and like the Pharisees, never get beyond it.

But Jesus doesn’t leave us there…He calls us back to our first love. The Old Testament prophet, Hosea, tells us how:

“I will allure her (‘her’ being us, His followers) and draw her away with me into the wilderness, and there I will speak tenderly to her.” He’s taking her on a retreat…and basically He’s going to romance her.

From there the passage says the Lord will give her ‘a door of hope’ and she will respond to his love “as in the days of her youth”. He will betroth her to Himself in mercy forever. And she will stop calling Him her master and call Him “My husband” instead (Hosea 2:15ff).

Sometimes when I meditate on the words to the worship chorus, “How Great is Our God,” I insert the words ‘How big’ into the song. Because that is one aspect of the word ‘great’. And that’s a lot of what is at the heart of why we have so much trouble with the ‘first love’ thing.  More on that next time.