[Darris McNeely] What was your first love? No, I'm not just talking about a wife or husband and/or that first crush and attraction that we had with someone in kindergarten or elementary school. Although I think we all will remember that. No, what I'm talking about is that first love that God talks about. The book of Revelation 2 to the message of the church at Ephesus, God has a number of things to say. And they were actually doing pretty good. But He said, "Therefore, I have one thing against you." He said, "That you've left your first love." You've left your first love.

Now, again, what was that first love for this group of people? When you look back into the story of the book of Acts with the church at Ephesus, they had a zeal for the truth that was preached to them, the Gospel of salvation that came to them through the preaching of Paul but they were also living in the midst of a lot of idolatry. And they were able to put all that off and remove it so much so that it created an actual riot one day in the streets, as the people got stirred up against the Apostle Paul for what he was doing and having a success of turning people away from idolatry.And a few years later, when Christ speaks to the church and says, "You've left your first love," I think we have to go back to that episode and recognize that perhaps the idolatry of the life of Ephesus had crept back into the church to one degree or the other. And they were not quite as zealous in removing idols, and the distractions, and the other forms of worship from their life, then it began to creep back in and to take a chokehold, and to choke off that love.

We all have idols, modern idols in our life of status, of power, of money, of celebrity, and things that come between us and our relationship with God. And if we are going to take heed to the message that we have here from the letter to the church at Ephesus, it is to look at the desire that we had initially for God, and for His truth, and for our relationship with Him. And if there's anything that has begun to choke that out, then that needs to be eliminated. And by doing so, we can then get back to what He says here to His church. And it's a message for us today to get back to that first love. Think about that.

What was your first love when it came to God, His truth, the Word of God, and His impact in your life? If anything has come in between that and your life today, you should examine that and remove it so that you can too get back to your first love.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.