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Revelation 2:4
But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
In the Kingdom of God, love is an action word. It is something you do rather than something you feel. It doesn't mean that you don't feel something, but that your feelings shouldn't be your only source of motivation. We are actually commanded to love God with everything we are so it can't be based just on how we feel. I don't always feel like doing the things God wants me to do, but Jesus said if you love Me you will obey my commands. That's in every situation, regardless of how we feel. When Jesus talks about love it is almost always in the context of doing something:
John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
The greatest love according to the Lord involves sacrifice. Sometimes I don't feel like doing what God wants me to do, but I will make the sacrifice and do it. Love isn't the feeling that you want to make the sacrifice, it's the sacrifice itself. The scripture says that love to God is this, to obey His commands; and His commandments are not burdensome.
The Lord was saying to the church at Ephesus, you have left your first love. What did He mean by that? Let's read on:
Revelation 2:5
Therefore, keep in mind how far you have fallen. Repent and perform the deeds you did at first. But if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
He wasn't saying, you've lost your good feeling about Me. He is saying, you stopped obeying me. This is what proves our love to God, when we obey Him even when we are in horrible situations and feel miserable. Have you ever had it happen that something bad happened to you and you used it as an excuse to disobey the Lord? That is where we must repent, because true love (1 Corinthians 13) will persevere. If we persevere in our obedience we are pleasing the Lord more than a lifetime of good feelings about Him. The scripture is explicitly connecting love and repentance because our love to God is demonstrated not in good feelings but in obedience. We also stay true to our first love by keeping our first love first. If anything ever comes before Jesus, we are no longer loving Him; according to Matthew 6:24 when we do that and serve something else we are actually hating Him.
We should pray that the Lord would help us to worship Him in Spirit and in truth, to be led by the Spirit and not by our feelings, so we may give Him the greatest love by laying down our lives:
Romans 12:1-2
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect
But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
In the Kingdom of God, love is an action word. It is something you do rather than something you feel. It doesn't mean that you don't feel something, but that your feelings shouldn't be your only source of motivation. We are actually commanded to love God with everything we are so it can't be based just on how we feel. I don't always feel like doing the things God wants me to do, but Jesus said if you love Me you will obey my commands. That's in every situation, regardless of how we feel. When Jesus talks about love it is almost always in the context of doing something:
John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
The greatest love according to the Lord involves sacrifice. Sometimes I don't feel like doing what God wants me to do, but I will make the sacrifice and do it. Love isn't the feeling that you want to make the sacrifice, it's the sacrifice itself. The scripture says that love to God is this, to obey His commands; and His commandments are not burdensome.
The Lord was saying to the church at Ephesus, you have left your first love. What did He mean by that? Let's read on:
Revelation 2:5
Therefore, keep in mind how far you have fallen. Repent and perform the deeds you did at first. But if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
He wasn't saying, you've lost your good feeling about Me. He is saying, you stopped obeying me. This is what proves our love to God, when we obey Him even when we are in horrible situations and feel miserable. Have you ever had it happen that something bad happened to you and you used it as an excuse to disobey the Lord? That is where we must repent, because true love (1 Corinthians 13) will persevere. If we persevere in our obedience we are pleasing the Lord more than a lifetime of good feelings about Him. The scripture is explicitly connecting love and repentance because our love to God is demonstrated not in good feelings but in obedience. We also stay true to our first love by keeping our first love first. If anything ever comes before Jesus, we are no longer loving Him; according to Matthew 6:24 when we do that and serve something else we are actually hating Him.
We should pray that the Lord would help us to worship Him in Spirit and in truth, to be led by the Spirit and not by our feelings, so we may give Him the greatest love by laying down our lives:
Romans 12:1-2
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect
