Busy for God, but Missing What Matters Most?

"If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place" Revelation 2:5

I have been pondering the captioned verse in the message Jesus had for the church in Ephesus. It has caused me to wonder if I can be fully engaged in good work for God and somehow miss his blessing or worse yet, somehow miss what is more important to him. 

Jesus had some very good things to say to the church in Ephesus. He commended them for: 

• good deeds

• hard work 

• perseverance 

• lack of tolerance for wickedness

• rightfully testing new Apostles for authenticity

• enduring hardships

• not growing weary 

This is a very impressive list of commendations for the church in Ephesus, but then comes the call to repent. Why would Jesus ask a hard working, doctrinally sound church to repent? 

Apparently all of the good they were doing was not sufficient to make up for one thing that was missing. The missing component in this church was they did not love like they did when they first started as a church. When the church was launched in Ephesus they adhered closely to two directions for love Jesus taught about 

 love for the Lord God - love of others. 

Please notice they did not lose their love - they left it. By focusing so much on doing, they forgot how to be a loving church. This was a good church. It was a vibrant church. A casual observer would have commended this church for all they were doing. But the complaint Jesus has with this church is it is no longer a church driven by love for God and love for others. 

Apparently they did repent because in the 2nd century Ignatius wrote: “You, who are of the most holy Church of the Ephesians, which is so famous and celebrated throughout the world… you, being full of the Holy Spirit, do nothing according to the flesh, but all things according to the Spirit. You are complete in Christ Jesus.”

I am so glad this really good church did not become proud and resist the opportunity to repent and get back on the preferred track God had for them. 

As we close out the year 2025 I would encourage all of us to do some sober reflection about our work and relationships. Where we find good work and good doctrine without a greater degree of love and devotion for God and for others, let's repent and get back what we left. 

After repenting let's ask God to lead us into the most amazing year of disciple-making we have ever experienced. A year where love is our motivation, and for the love that Jesus has for us to be seen in us as we convey his love to everyone we encounter.