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NASB | Revelation 2:5 '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. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Revelation 2:5 'So remember the heights from which you have fallen, and repent [change your inner self--your old way of thinking, your sinful behavior--seek God's will] and do the works you did at first [when you first knew Me]; otherwise, I will visit you and remove your lampstand (the church, its impact) from its place--unless you repent. |
Subject: Love Him then work for Him |
Bible Note: Greetings cloud: I agree that christians must guard against becoming distracted with the labor and forget about our "first love". As you have pointed out the people in the church of God at Ephesus were doctrinely correct, the labored to the point of exhaustion, but they had left their first love. Their labor appeared to be motivated by a sense of duty rather than a labor of love. When we were first saved, nothing was to much to ask for the Lord, we wanted to honor him and to please him because of our love and devotion to him. However, after a few years, it is possible to carry on doing things for the Lord because we know we should, rather than acting out of love. You mentioned the "lampstand". The Lord tells us in Rev.1:20 what the lampstand is: "the seven candlesticks (lampstands) which thou sawest are the seven churches". Each local church had a testimony which the Lord will remove if they do not repent of the faults he finds in them. Christ dwells in us by his Spirit and as such we are as lamps in a dark world. We can look at it from the aspect of our personal testimony and from a collective testimony ie. the local church. It is humbling to realize that God in his grace has choosen these earthen vessels to display himself to the world around us. Peace in his most excellent name Robert |