Where's The Love
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
"I Know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for My name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first." Revelation 2:2-5
What if the Lord said to you, “You are extremely busy in doing My work and reaching out to the lost world. You share My burden and concern and that pleases Me. But I am sad because your love for Me is growing thin.” Would that statement trouble you?
How can you be doing all the right things and at the same time cause the Lord to be sad? Nothing about the Ephesian’s ministry had changed. The Lord looked at the work and everything was in place and He commended them. Yet He said they needed to change and go back to doing the things they did at first. If we are not careful, we can become so consumed with serving the ministry God gave us that we no longer do it for Him and out of a love for Him.
A great question to pause and ask ourselves is, “Do we minister because we love the Lord?” We can be doing the Lord’s work, but are we doing it in the Lord’s way? Jesus gave us a clear picture of how ministry should be done in Matthew 25:40 “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to Me.” Ministry really comes down to the attitude of the heart more than items to be checked off an agenda. Our ministry and service must always be rooted in a love for the Lord and a desire to exalt His name rather than ours.
As I was studying this passage the question I struggled with was how do we get off track when everything we’re doing is right? I believe it happens when we take on a Martha mentality that says, “I’ve got all this that needs to be done and I don’t have time to sit around trying to soak in the moment like Mary does.” Our love starts to grown thin when we see spending time in the presence of the Lord and sitting at His feet in order to gain an understanding of Him and His ways as optional.
What is the prescription then for returning to our first love and doing the things we did at first? Obviously it begins by taking the time to draw near to Him cultivating a greater love for the Lord than for the ministry He gave us to do. Then as we spend time with the Lord we not only learn His ways, but we also follow His lead.
If you are one of those “can’t sit still, got to be doing something” kind of people you will be amazed to discover that the more you take time to wait and hear from the Lord, the more of His work you will actually get done in His power and not yours. The next time you feel frustrated or perhaps exhausted in the ministry the Lord has given you, stop what you are doing and immediately enter into His presence and do not leave until you receive a clear word from Him.
david ><{('>
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