A Deadly Neglect

You can be doing things right, and in the midst of the right, be treacherously wrong. You can be walking in holiness, serving the family of God, performing good works with toil and patient endurance for the Master, and yet neglect the Master altogether, a potentially deadly mistake.

I venture to say deadly from what we read in the letter to Ephesus in Revelation 2. The church in Ephesus were commended by Jesus this way...

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. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.

I would love to hear this from the Master! He is commending them on their good works. However, the next thing He says is...

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

In the midst of their good works, the Ephesians had left their first love. In working for the Master, they forgot about the Master Himself. Here, we see Jesus's heart to have true intimacy and a love relationship with His Bride, His people. And we also see the potentially eternally deadly consequence of abandoning our first love - I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

In the midst of our work for God, we cannot forget or neglect a heart beating with love and passion for Him. In the midst of doing right for Him, we cannot neglect Him. Mike Bickle said, "there are lovers and there are workers, and lovers get more work done than do workers." Jesus is the lover of our soul, the One passion and longing of our hearts!

If you have fallen out of love with the Master, heed the loving, and I emphasize loving, words of Jesus and repent, today. Let's do the works we did when we first met our Savior and fell in love with Him.