Revelation 2:5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent an do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place.
One of the things we are not very adept at doing these days, is self-reflection. We are very good at pointing our fingers at the misdeeds of others, but holding up a mirror and honestly looking at ourselves through the same lens, not so much. But improvement in any realm requires knowing your starting place, your goal and periodic assessments of progress.
When we lived in Germany we found that many Germans like to take hikes. They are called Volksmarches. They start at a specific predetermined place, travel along a specific path, and end up back where you started. They are a social and fitness activity.
Germany has paths in every farmers field, every country lane, every forested area across the country. Even city dwellers can easily take a train out into the country for a healthy hike. And they do!
These hikes have one thing in common: a starting point and an ending point. (Well, I guess that is two things in common!) If you aren’t sure where to start or where to stop, who knows where you will end up! And along the way, you won’t be able to track your progress, since you don’t know where you started or where you are going.
In our text, the author has a vision and is told to write letters to seven actual church congregations in seven cities of his day. Each of these churches has its own strengths, weaknesses and pitfalls to avoid. The first church is in the city of Ephesus, a metropolitan city of Roman design and build.
This church seems to be doing a pretty good job of walking out their faith. But they seem to be slowing down in their faith. They have lost steam. They are getting distracted.
We can all begin with a bang! People who study change will tell you that almost anyone can make almost any change and maintain it for a short period of time. But few people can make fundamental changes and maintain them longterm. There is a tendency to drift back to the old patterns. Have you found this to be true for you?
The church at Ephesus was doing this. They had started with full energy and commitment, but they had stopped. And their energy levels toward their obedience had lessened. They had “lost their first love.”
So the writer calls on them to repent, to turn around and head in the correct direction. It will take effort to do this. But the reality is, it won’t take much more energy than what is being used for the alternative activities to which they have fallen.
All of life takes energy and commitment. For the Christian, our energy and commitment is supposed to be in one direction: obedience to Jesus. This is actuated in our work and worship as a community and in our interactions with the world. We become the hands and feet of Jesus. The world is to see Jesus when they see us.
But just like the Ephesians, too often the world sees us, broken and selfish. They see us fighting and grumbling. These things should not be what characterizes our lives. We are to be salt and light, not dung and darkness.
So repentance is necessary when we are off course. And this requires self-assessment. We must allow the Word of God, and the fellowship and accountability of Christian community to awaken our awareness of the dung and darkness that is in us, so that the with the help of the Holy Spirit we can return, having accurately assessed our current position.
And we all need to repent. We all get off course.
The Arnold Journey 