Read Revelation 2:1-7
1 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus. This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand,the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands:
2 “I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. 3 You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.
4 “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! 5 Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent,I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches. 6 But this is in your favor: You hate the evil deeds of the Nicolaitans,just as I do.
7 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God. (NLT)
The evil one has an uncanny ability to turn a virtue into a vice. He did so in the ancient church of Ephesus. The virtue of orthodoxy can become the vice of bigotry. The Ephesians are praised for sticking to the truth when it was under threat from false teachers. They knew truth from error and rightly took the side of truth.
But over time their embrace of truth was not accompanied by an embrace of the love of God and one another. They,perhaps,had become the sort of church where membership consisted of ticking the boxes of orthodoxy. Where correctness had become a source of satisfaction at the expense of mutual love and love of God.
In some traditions,sadly,the role of the emotions and the place of passion have been downplayed. What matters is our correct beliefs. And of course they do matter-as our text makes clear. But if our heads have got the doctrines sorted out,what about our hearts? Are we so scared of emotionalism that we have no place for emotion? Are we so intent on right beliefs that we neglect right relationships?
May it be that our spiritual arteries do not get silted up with sour orthodoxy and grim duty so that we lose that love.
Blessings
David Reay
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