I know your deeds, your hard work, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not and have found them false. You have persevered, and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 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. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the victorious one, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Revelation 2:2-7
What happens when we fall in love? We feel we cannot live without that person. The thought of being away from the person we love makes us sad. When we fall in love with someone, we are willing to do anything, even walk for hours to see each other for a while. We are inclined to stop being one to be two. Whenever we can, we think of the other person. We are ready to make any sacrifice to be with them or defend our love. We are always searching for ways to surprise each other, and we love to please and make them feel good. Being in love makes us feel good, gives us life, and drives us to continue every day. Who does not like to feel loved and feel that they occupy an important place in someone's heart? But every relationship must be cultivated; if we don't nurture it, little by little, it cools down, and we go from falling in love to a tortuous routine.
The same thing happens with our relationship with God. When we have newly converted, everything is peaches and cream. We tell everyone about our love for Jesus, we want everyone to know that He is our reason for living, and we talk about it passionately. We seek Him at all times. The thought of being far from God overwhelms us. We give our all and are willing to give up everything to serve him. But once time passes, either due to the daily struggles, the stress of work, or the worries that life brings with it (diseases, fatigue, financial trials, stress, lack of forgiveness, etcetera,) this first love grows cold, and without realizing it we start to drift away from what at one time was our everything. We stop being intimate with God. We begin to stop praying. And this lack of God's presence produces discouragement, frustration, and confusion. We stop giving our hundred percent and settle for crumbs. But the saddest thing is that the enemy takes advantage and brings so much distraction and noise into our lives that it causes us spiritual deafness. It makes us believe that we are spiritually well because it plunges us into conformism that does not allow us to see how lost we are.
To stop being intimate with God makes us fall into self-sufficiency and creates a false sense that we have perfect control of our lives; we start believing that we do not need God and can continue doing things alone, with our strength. Abandoning this first love with God leads us to stop giving our best, makes us fall into doubt and fear, and the enemy silences us. We no longer tell anyone about the wonders he has done in our life. We fall into constant complaints, and negativity is the only thing that comes out of our mouths. We start seeing the negative in everything and everyone. We start blaming others for our misfortune without realizing that we have plunged into an endless abyss. Without God's love, we no longer enjoy the beautiful things in life, no longer celebrate small victories, and only see failures. We focus on what we lack, forgetting how blessed we are.
In these verses, God gives us a warning and reminds us of the consequences of leaving our first love. He invites us to repent. That is what God is asking of us. There is no time to waste; the time has come to recover our intimacy with God. It is the only thing that will help us win in this world full of evil and a lack of control. It is time to wake up from that spiritual marasmus and seek God with all our strength. The time to play is over; it is time to fight to recover our relationship with God. It is time to become more intimate than before. It is time to let God occupy the first place in our lives. Immerse ourselves in his presence and give Him total control of our life. It is time to share with others what God has done in our life. It is time to share God's Peace, Love, and Joy with those in need. But we cannot give what we do not have, so it is essential to study His Word. But above all, it is important to live it, to apply it every day. It's time to be light in the midst of darkness. We must put an end to the enemy's lies, put on the armor of Ephesians 6, and go out to conquer souls.
It is time to assume our calling to have our lamps lit with enough oil reserve that the groom does not catch us unprepared. Let's not allow worries and routines to take away our relationship with God. Let's strengthen ourselves more than before with constant prayers and an intimate relationship with Him. Let's seek Him in Spirit and Truth, and you will see that He will take care of all your needs. It is time to make a difference, to give testimony of what we are in Christ. Let's go back to our first love. Let's give Glory and Honor to the one that deserves it. Let's put aside all distractions and take time to study and learn God's Word. Let's take time to pray and intercede for others. Let's be faithful and be so full of Him and His love that everyone that knows us can feel it.
If I speak in the tongues of men or angels but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but does not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, and I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now, we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13.
