Scripture to Read: Revelation 2:5
Our Lord Jesus Christ gives a warning today to the believers at Ephesus. Remember from yesterday’s devotion that our Lord lovingly rebuked the believers in Ephesus for leaving their first love. As we read Revelation 2:5, our Lord continues the loving rebuke and tells the believers what they must do. Our Lord tells believers then and believers now to take a look at their/our lives and see how far they/we have fallen away from their/our first love. As God challenges us to examine our hearts, we need to see if we have fallen from loving God with all we are and loving His Word passionately. God tells us in 1 Peter 2:2 that we must choose to long for His Word the same way a baby longs for the pure milk of its mother. Hungering for God and His Word the way a baby longs for its mother’s milk is a choice we must make every day. Our Lord Jesus Christ also tells the believers in Ephesus that they must repent. To repent means to turn around and head the other way. When God reveals sin in our lives, we must repent from that sin and turn to God and His Word and pursue Him with all we are. Finally, our Lord tells the believers to do the works they did when they first surrendered to Him as Lord. Christ warns them; if they don’t repent, He will remove their lampstand. He'll take away the church's impact to be light to this lost world (Matthew 5:15-16, John 1:4-5, John 8:12, 2 Peter 1:5-9).
Challenge & Application
1. What did God teach you today about hungering for Him and His Word and being light for Him to this lost world?
2. How are you choosing to daily hunger for God and His Word, and how are you shining the light of Christ to the lost around you?
Don’t forget to pray using the A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) method!