I have been thinking about ’staying steady’. About maintaining a longevity and passion in my life with God. There have been so many people my age that have started out strong and passionate and then fizzled out 5 or 10 or 15 years later and are now lukewarm, bitter or have even given up their faith. Just because I am hungry for God now does not guarantee I’ll still be longing for Him just 5 years from now, let alone 25.

I’ve been reading the letter to the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2. They were a massive revival center, if not the revival center of the earth at the time. Jesus exhorts them with some powerful words of encouragement saying

I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.”

What a powerful statement. How many churches in the western world do you know of right now that we could say the same things about? How many churches could we say are laboring, have patience and zeal for righteousness? How many churches have such a spirit of discernment that they are exposing false apostles? How many churches today have perseverance and patience and have labored for the Gospel and are not weary? Not many places could we label with these banners, and those that we could would probably be very highly thought of. But Jesus has more to say:

Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have lost your first love.

What a powerful accusation! This has been burning in me lately. Despite their good works and labor and perseverance the Lord holds against them that they have lost their first love. But what is more striking to me is what Jesus says He will do because of their current problem:

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.

This statement by Jesus is a wind that blows opposite the current of our western church society. This reminds me Matthew 7 where Jesus is speaking about false prophets He says that we will know them by their fruits. He says a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit…therefore by their fruits you will know them. This statement is so often related to ministries where we say, “Oh look, that ministry has cool people, they have lots of members and they’re doing outreach so they must be a good ministry. Look at the fruits of their works.” Except I don’t think that is what Jesus was talking about. Let’s look at another passage:

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons i Your name, and done many wonders in Your name’ And then I will declare to them, ‘ I never knew you; depart from Me you who practice lawlessness!’
- Matthew 7: 21-23

I realize I’ve opened up quite a bit to chew on right now so let me make my point.

I think that the ‘fruits’ Jesus spoke of is not the ‘outward success’ of a ministry but rather the inward influence of the Holy Spirit and the practical expression of a Matthew 5-7 lifestyle. We will know them by their__________ (Meekness, Humility, Spiritual Hunger, Joy during persecution, Prayer Life, Charity and Generosity, Love for their enemies, etc…).

Those people and ministries that are in a similar position as the Church in Ephesus are in danger of being like those Jesus spoke of in Matthew 7:21-23. Those that ‘did the stuff’ but never had the “first works” which I think is the “first commandment”

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.
- Mark 12:30

Jesus wants us to have a ministry. If we’re working a job at McDonalds or if we’re traveling the globe doing massive crusades and raising the dead God is primarily concerned that our heart loves Him. He wants us to keep our first love as the first goal in our life. I don’t know how many people I’ve met or talked to that have the testimony of going hard after God and then their ministry ‘got in the way’ and they neglected their personal life with God.

So what does all this have to do with staying steady? I think everything. If our life in God is only a means to an end then we are already off course. If we are praying and reading our Bible for the sake of finally getting anointed one day then we are already fallen and back-sliden. We also can’t just pray a good prayer one day saying, “God I promise to stay steady and keep you first for all my days” and then assume we’re good. Staying steady is something that has to be pursued daily. We must daily build our house on the rock. We must daily be sure that we are walking on the narrow, difficult way. We must daily re-evaluate our life and see how we can better align ourselves with the truth in the Word of God.

If we are ever pursuing roads and other things that do not fuel our personal relationship with Jesus then we are in danger of losing all that we have. Jesus was more concerned that those in the Church of Ephesus were in love with Him than anything else. Why is He so concerned with our voluntary love? Because that is the one thing He cannot do. He can’t make us love Him because if He did then our love would not be pure and voluntary.

The highest calling for any of us is to love God well.