Return To Your First Love
Pastor Nicole Olinski
In Revelation 2:1-7, we find a message from Jesus to the church in Ephesus. This early church had much to be commended for, but also something critical to confront. Jesus both affirms and corrects them, offering a timeless message that still speaks powerfully to our hearts today.
Let’s walk through this letter together and hear what the Spirit is saying—not just to Ephesus, but to us.
The Commendation: Hard Work, Endurance, and Truth
The message begins with a vivid description of Jesus: “The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven gold lampstands.” These stars represent the seven pastors of the churches. Jesus is not distant from His church. He is present and attentive.
Then comes a beautiful affirmation:
“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. You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.”
This is a church known for perseverance, discernment, and standing firm in the face of difficulty. They worked hard. They endured persecution. They stood for truth and didn’t allow deception to go unchecked.
Jesus celebrates these strengths. But He doesn’t stop there.
The Confrontation: A Lost Love
In verse 4, everything shifts:
“But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first.”
This correction is piercing. The church that had done so much right had lost something essential: love. Their actions remained, but the heart behind them had faded. Jesus calls it what it is—a departure from their first love.
And this phrase, “as you did at first,” is key. It means they had it once. They were once full of passionate love for God and for one another. But over time, it faded. It slipped away.
When Love Fades: A Relationship Analogy
This part of the passage brings to mind the early stages of falling in love—the butterflies, the excitement, the longing to be together. Maybe you remember when you first started dating someone, how you couldn’t get enough of them. You’d talk for hours, FaceTime until the early morning, and say things like, “You hang up first.”
There’s a personal story here. During college, when Pastor Aaron and I were dating, we’d spend all day on campus and still get on the phone at night to talk. One evening, we were talking late and suddenly... silence. He had fallen asleep mid-conversation! I ended up calling his dorm neighbor to go in and hang up the phone for him. The next day? Lots of apologies and a little bit of “you’ve got some making up to do.”
But over time, that passion can fade, right? You get married, life gets busy, and you might say things like, “I’m too tired to talk,” or “They know I love them, I don’t have to say it all the time.”
Love drifts—not in a moment, but over time. And it’s the same in our relationship with God. He hasn’t moved. He never leaves us or forsakes us. If there’s distance, it’s because we’ve moved away.
The Slow Drift: Losing Love for God and Others
Losing our first love doesn’t happen in a single decision. It’s a series of small choices, distractions, and misplaced priorities. And when love is absent, other issues follow:
- A lack of love leads to a lack of trust
- Conflict, division, and isolation begin to grow
- Hatred, selfishness, and brokenness emerge
This is not just a church problem. It’s a world problem. We’re seeing these symptoms all around us. But before we point fingers outward, we must look inward.
Have you lost your love for God or others?
It’s easy to spot these problems in society, but Jesus calls us to examine our own hearts. In today’s world, it's become common to turn against anyone who doesn’t think, look, or believe like we do. That division is the fruit of a lack of love.
A Cultural Wake-Up Call: The Danger of Idolatry
Sometimes, the reason we’ve lost our love for God is because we’ve replaced Him. We’ve given our love and devotion to something else:
- A job
- A spouse or kids
- A hobby
- An influencer
- Politics
Yes, politics. Some of us are more passionate about defending our political views than we are about Jesus. But Jesus did not come to advance political systems. He came to save people.
If our love has grown cold, maybe it’s because we’ve been so busy proving ourselves right that we’ve forgotten to love God and love others. That’s idolatry—putting anything in the place that God alone deserves.
The Call to Return
In Revelation 2:5, Jesus says:
“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.”
The message is clear: Return. Repent. Do what you did at first.
No matter how far you’ve drifted, there is always a way back. Jesus is calling us—not with condemnation, but with love.
As the psalmist David once prayed in Psalm 51:12, “Return to me the joy of my salvation.”
You can pray that too.
How Do You Return to Your First Love?
- Reflect on how far you've drifted. Be honest with yourself about where you are.
- Repent and turn back to God. Confess the ways you’ve placed other things before Him.
- Do what you did at first. Rekindle the love. Spend time with Him. Worship, pray, serve, and pursue Him like you did when you first believed.
It’s not about recapturing a feeling. It’s about rekindling a relationship.
In Closing: Is This You?
Ask yourself:
- Have I lost my love for God?
- Have I stopped loving others?
- Have I allowed anything to take God’s place in my life?
If so, Jesus’ message to the church at Ephesus is His message to you today:
Return to your first love.
Let’s be a people marked not just by endurance and truth, but by love—fresh, intentional, surrendered love for God and for one another.
"If I do not have love, I have nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:2)
Let’s return. Let’s remember. Let’s rekindle. Let’s love again.
