Who Moved?

First lets read what Jesus said in Revelations 2:4-5, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”

After saying (in the previous verses) all the good that His audience had done, He points out that even with all their good deeds, they had gradually drifted away from Him.

In telling His audience of that day, He left instruction and caution also for us today, and for those who come after us tomorrow and many tomorrows into the future.

“First love”: “first” is foremost in time, place, order or importance; it is before, beginning, best. It’s the most important.

A Day at the Beach

I grew up in California and loved going to the ocean. I wasn’t so much a good ocean swimmer, nor did I want a shark to get me, so I pretty much just stayed in the shallow waters, usually no more than knee deep. I was also aware of how the ocean would try to pull me in when a wave would recede, which gave me all the more reason to stay shallow. However, my brother was different. He loved to go out into the waves and body surf.

I remember one day when my family and I went to the beach, the waves were especially calling my brother to go out into the ocean and catch some waves with his body. He was actually really good! But here’s the thing: when you’re playing along the shoreline, there’s a type of cross-current that happens. When a wave comes to shore and then recedes, the recession is usually at an angle. It may not look it, but it is, and if you don’t keep correcting your course by going back to your “mark” (where your towel and family are), you will get pulled farther and farther down the beach until you feel “lost”. This day was a perfect example of this.

My brother was having a blast catching wave after wave. Periodically, he would look up, locate us (his family “spot”), realign himself, and go back to the waves. However, he began having so much fun and became so focused on the waves, that he stopped adjusting his position, and that’s when it happened.

Because of the cross-pull of the ocean, he was getting closer and closer to a huge pile of not-so-soft-and-cuddly huge rocks. We ran and yelled, waving our arms, but he couldn’t hear us. By the time he looked up and saw the rocks, it was too late.

As he tried to correct his course, the wave took him right into the rocks, tumbling like in a washing machine with feet occasionally rolling over seen in the air. There was no way to get out to him. It was scary to see as we prayed and felt helpless. What seemed like forever was more like just minutes before he was able to get out of the surf. We were thankful he was alive and suffered only a few cuts, bumps, and bruises…but it could’ve turned out so much worse.

In this passage, Jesus is pointing out that they were doing really good, but they forgot to keep checking their position in relation to where they should be, and stopped correcting their trajectory. They had lost focus on where His “spot” was on life’s beach. It’s not that He moved. It’s that they moved, not suddenly but a little bit at a time. It was so subtly that they didn’t notice, yet in so doing got so far away that they not only lost their right position, but they lost the ability to hear Him when He tried to guide them back to safety.

Body-Surfing through Life

How many times do we body-surf through life? We start out well, but then get so busy in doing well or pursuing our own stuff, that we forget to periodically check and reset our course, to recalibrate our direction and trajectory; and before we know it, time passes and we feel so far from Him. We often convince ourselves we love God with all our heart and are living “for Him”. But do we? And are we?

Choices = Results

Every choice has a result. The result is either a blessing and reward, or a consequence and loss of privilege. Jesus wants us to understand this.

In this passage He makes sure to point it out: if we don’t repent and return to our first love, that choice to choose our will over His will, will indeed cause us to no longer have our place with Him. With privilege comes responsibility, and being responsible in Him brings reward. The opposite does not. We, not God, are responsible for our choices. He will righteously respond to our choices, according to the type of choices we make. Just as when we step out into the rain, we get wet. Our choices also set the trajectory for the action God must take. Essentially, in this way, we choose what He will do. Yes, He is gracious and often gives us more chances than we deserve to “get it right”, but ultimately, in many ways, we choose what Divinely happens.

Can we lose our salvation? It’s never “lost” because we always know where to find it: in Christ. He doesn’t just take it away willy-nilly like a spoiled child takes back a toy. However, WE can CHOOSE to step out of it, and thus lose our place in line.

Remedy to the Drift

In His love and compassion on us humans, Jesus gives us the remedy for getting back on track, on course, to get back to His flight plan for our lives and be able to reset or recalibrate our trajectory toward Him.

The first step He says is to “repent”, which literally means to think differently afterwards, to reconsider morally and feel compunction (remorse: to regret previous choices).

Then, He tells us to “do the first works”. When we first come to Christ, what do we do to learn about Him and build a relationship with Him? We READ the Bible, His word, to learn about Him and how to live the life He has graciously entrusted to us, and we spend time communicating with Him through prayer AND LISTENING.

Time to Recalibrate?

Has there ever been a time in your life when you were more “on fire” for Jesus than you are today? If so, it’s time to recalibrate. If you have not surrendered and submitted everything you are, everything you have, everything you want, to the Lord…if you’re holding back what you’ve told yourself is the smallest most “insignificant” thing, it’s time to re-evaluate and correct course.

It’s not always easy and convenient. It takes time, attention, and intentional effort, but it is simple.