Repentance

Let us look at the remedy Jesus gave to the Church in Ephesus and the consequences if they do not give that response. Revelation 2:4-5(NASB) 4'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5'Therefore remember 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.

One translation says, "remember the height from which you have fallen.." In covenant view, it is not about the person, the intention or lack thereof, but about the covenant. What were the covenant expectations that you committed yourself? God's covenant expectation is that we become as He is. Following in Jesus' footsteps will bring us into the fulfillment of that expectation for Jesus is the exact representation of the Father. But if we do lose sight of Who He is, how can we be like Him? God is love. The love He has poured out on us is not reasonable in our human sight. But the Holy Spirit reveals His love to us and our love response to Him is not reasonable to other humans. To let His love abide in us until we love as He loves is something the world cannot fathom. But when we get our eyes on our "working for God", rather than on His love, we lose that love connection. Rescuing the lost, feeding the poor, covering the wounds the enemy inflicts on the unsuspecting, pouring ourselves out as Jesus poured Himself out for us as an expression of the Love He has shown us causes the change in us that God expects to happen. We don't orchestrate the change, God does. We only respond to Who we see He is and He does the rest. But if our response is outside the covenant and is what we feel we "need" to do because we see someone else doing it or someone expects it of us or we are driven to do something religious to justify ourselves, we are not giving God that connection He must have to accomplish what He desires to do.

What must God do as His covenant response when we do not give to Him a covenant response? He must come and take our lampstand out of the place He has put it. We may continue doing what we have always done and feel we are really working for God, and never know our lampstand no longer stands where He put it and is really no longer a lampstand at all. But what happens if we repent and come back to responding to His great Love?

Because we respond to God's Word with our own understanding, we miss or distort what He says. Let the Word of God interpret the Word of God. Read carefully, seeking the Holy Spirit to reveal to you, the passages in John 5:19-30 and John 6:44-58. God so loved the world, not just those whom He had chosen to be a separate nation, but all who would respond to His call, that He sent to us Jesus, God in the flesh of man. Jesus revealed God to man. Jesus came showing that same love that is without measure. He came in our poverty so we could come into His riches. All He is is now available to us! Come and feast at His table! Jesus IS the tree of Life!