Revelation 2:5
5 Remember[mnemoneuo] therefore[oun] from whence[pothen] thou art fallen,[ekpipto] and[kai] repent,[metanoeo] and[kai] do[poieo] the first[protos] works;[ergon] or else[ei de me(ge)] I will come[erchomai] unto thee[soi] quickly,[tachu] and[kai] will remove[kineo] thy[sou] candlestick[luchnia] out of[ek] his[autos] place,[topos] except[ean me] thou repent.[metanoeo] KJV-Interlinear
5 'Remember therefore from where
you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am
coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place — unless you
repent. NASB
What is the greatest commandment of them all?
Matt.22:37
37 And He said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' NASB
What had the Ephesians lost? Their first love – Bible doctrine,
‘agapao.’For it is through
doctrine that we come to the full knowledge of Christ.
They lost their study habits, their prayer habits, their overall worship habits. The legitimate ones (habits) of course. And they replaced them with false habits and
rituals, and so forth.They left
(abandoned) their first love for a false love.
They abandoned the authority of God, and replaced
it with their own version of self authority.
They abandoned Gods will and replaced it with their own will. They abandoned Gods procedure and priorities,
and replaced them with their own priorities and things that they deemed as
important.
Remember that we are speaking of Christians, people
who have believed in Christ, people who at some point in their Christian life,
knew the priorities of God, but have drifted away from them, and have chosen to
pursue some other path or lifestyle in life, which is contrary to that of God.
And we know that they left doctrine, the principles
of doctrine, which means that they drifted away from their daily study habits.
And when you leave something, then you replace it with something else. And when that thing left or abandoned, is
truth, then the replacement is not truth.
And since we know that the overall priority of the
spiritual life is to grow up to maturity, and that we grow by means of a
consistent and daily study, and by following that we will have a tendency of
not losing our self to the false ideas of life, then we know that the Ephesians
(believers in general), failed in continuing their pursuit in this process.
So now what?
They are to remember, to recall, to listen to
objective constructive criticism, and then to wake up to their failure, and
then turn their life around, turn their priorities around, to repent (change
their mind, change their habit), and then return to that which they should have
been doing, which is a daily study, learning, growing, etc.
And if they, or people who are like them, or
perhaps you, if this applies to you, if they change their mind, and bad habits,
and get back on track with their daily studies, then all is restored, and as it
should be.
But, if they (or you) do not change your ways, then
what happens?
Christ returns.
What does that mean?Will He come
to you in the night and hit you on the head?
No.It means
that Christ will apply the principles of truth to your life, and remove
blessings from your life.
Your candlestick, or lampstand, not only represents
the whole of the Christian community, but that community is made up of individual
believers.That means you.
You have a lampstand, an object which represents
status, stature, a position of prestige and honor.
Being a Christian means that you are saved and will
end up in heaven, of course.But
remember, being saved is not the end of your Christian life,
you are to grow up to spiritual maturity.
And it is the mature that will hold the places of the highest honor and
prestige as far as eternal blessings are concerned. Those eternal blessings are infinite (beyond
all you can imagine).
Use examples in this life to discover the concept
of blessings that some have and others do not have.
There are those who have superior mental
capabilities, superior musical talents, superior artistic abilities, superior
athletic capabilities, superior beauty, and on and on. Where do you rate in this world? Well, most of us will never be a celebrity,
never be on the cover page (or in the center for that matter), will never be
recorded as great in history, or in the record books. Most of us will not have much prosperity or
wealth.
But these are only examples of the differences that
exist now in this world.Now look into
the future to the new heaven and earth, and imagine the possibilities of
superior blessings that will exist there.
Well, we can’t even begin to imagine, but suffice to say, the mature
believer will have things or abilities or talents, or privileges, etc. that the
immature believer will not have.
That is what you are putting at risk (of loss), if
you do not obey Gods mandates and stick with your daily study as He has
designed Bible study.
If you are not willing to change, then you better
make sure that you are doing His will, and not pursuing your own convenient
desires, or not simply avoiding the responsibilities that God has placed on
you.
Losing your place of privilege is a very serious
matter.The magnitude of your loss is
extremely vast (infinite).
Eternity is a very long time and you have now, in
this life, to get your life in order and establish for yourself, a phenomenal
eternal destiny and life.Your present
circumstances are irrelevant.Your attitude
is relevant.
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