Afresh

Wk 49 Day 6

Revelation 1:17-18 ; 2:2-5 [AMP]

¹⁷When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if dead. But He laid His right hand on me and said, Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last,

¹⁸And the Ever-living One [I am living in the eternity of the eternities]. I died, but see, I am alive forevermore; and I possess the keys of death and Hades (the realm of the dead).

.. That's my King! He is alive forevermore and He is all-powerful!

²I know your industry and activities, laborious toil and trouble, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot tolerate wicked [men] and have tested and critically appraised those who call [themselves] apostles (special messengers of Christ) and yet are not, and have found them to be impostors and liars.

³I know you are enduring patiently and are bearing up for My name's sake, and you have not fainted or become exhausted or grown weary.

⁴But I have this [one charge to make] against you: that you have left (abandoned) the love that you had at first [you have deserted Me, your first love].

⁵Remember then from what heights you have fallen. Repent (change the inner man to meet God's will) and do the works you did previously [when first you knew the Lord], or else I will visit you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you change your mind and repent.

.. Written to the church in Ephesus

// PRINCIPLES:

.. A great reminder that it is possible that we can be so engrossed with hard work, persevering, not tolerating wicked men, even testing to see true apostles, endurance in hardships due to faith in Christ, and even going strong - not growing weary
.. YET, though all these great things, have forsaken [deserted and abandoned] first love [agapen // agape // true selfless, unconditional, God-type of love]

.. Just like the Apostle Paul said to the church in Corinth, it is possible that we can have the depths of mysteries and acquire them through supernaturals; express and practice the supernatural giftings YET, not love. Everything becomes meaningless [we are nothing.]

// THEREFORE:

.. LOVE [agape] God and others
.. With all the great things mentioned above, LOVE must be evident.

Good things without love = meaningless
Agape Love = good things out of love

.. With love [agape] all those good thing mentioned above will just come out as an outflow; unforced and non-fleshly. It is easy to "cover" things up with all these good things but yet not done out of love anymore [have forsaken and abandoned love]

// BELLE:

.. I am persevering, I am enduring for Christ's sake, I am working hard, etc... BUT EVERYTHING MUST BE DONE OUT OF MY LOVE [Agape]
.. If I am noticing in my self that I am just doing the good things as a mundane [common; ordinary] task, I need to set myself aside and re-evaluate.
.. Am I doing these good things because of my love? Or is it because I am just being fleshly? Constant assessment to my doings on a daily basis.
.. Renewing and keeping my LOVE afresh. How? re-thinking about God's command to LOVE [agape] Him and each other - the main motivation of why I do the good things!

[Illustration by Cyril Florita]

// LORD, thank you for reminding me again. It is not my good things that matters but love. Though they look good that makes them seem like evidences of my love for you, it is my heart the truly mattes. I pray that I will have a pure heart. Give me a quiet heart that all I do is an outflow of my love for You and mankind. I serve You my Almighty God; I will love You for all of my days! May You keep me strong to fight against all the temptations - even the temptations to just do things without love. Keep Your love afresh in my soul. You are great! I thank You for who YOU ARE! In Jesus' name, amen.