Day 66 - Revelation

Well, we're at the end.  Sixty-six devotions in 67 days.  We've looked at every book of the Bible, and we're finally to Revelation.  Of to course, Revelation is sometimes hard to understand.  There are lots of different theories about what it all means.  However, one of the passages that has always mean to most to me has been Revelation 2:4-5, the words of Jesus to the Church in Ephesus:

"Yet I hold this against you:  You have forsaken your first love.  Remember the height from which you have fallen!  Repent and do the things you did at first."

There is a tendency to get lazy as a Follower of Christ.  Perhaps you remember when you first accepted Christ.  Often, when we first come to faith, we're on fire for Jesus.  We're telling friends about our experience, inviting people to church, reading our Bible, making time for prayer and we're at the church every time the doors are open.  Then, something happens.

I don't know what it is, but it seems like human nature.  We do the same thing in marriage, getting lazy about serving each other.  We do the same thing in careers, getting 'too comforable' and losing our edge after we hold a job for a long time.  Why do we do that?  Shouldn't we get better?  We don't.

Jesus is speaking to this problem.  He words it this way:  you have forsaken your first love.  What if the way we were at first was the starting point and not the high point.  Jesus is telling us to keep that passion, continue to have the fire, and return to the way we once were.  It's natural to have peaks and valleys, but I think if we're going to keep that fire, we have to keep doing the things we did at first:  surrounding ourselves with Godly people, spending time in God's Word, making worship a priority, and setting aside time to pray.

As we approach the end of our 66 days, may you burn with the fire of your beginning in faith.  Don't lose your first love.