Are things in your life going reasonably well? Are they going pretty terribly? What do you attribute those states of success or failure to? Likely, one of the things that you may attribute those states to is your strengths or your lack of strengths. Unfortunately, sometimes that can be too simplistic, and you may be actually succeeding DESPITE your strengths.
In the first letter to the seven churches in Revelation, John records Jesus dictating a letter first to the church in Ephesus. Ephesus is sort of the Orlando of its day and region. While not the capital of the area, Ephesus is a larger city with more trade. It is a strategic location for both the Roman army and the Christian Church. The church at Ephesus is also a powerhouse. It was one of the first cities in the area to be evangelized, and as such has been the home of doctrine and practice for the Christian church in its day. Overall in His letter, Jesus gives them high marks. They get all A’s….except.
The problem in Ephesus is a big one. Jesus tells them that while there are many good things happening, “you have forsaken your love that you had at the first.” They have been working hard and their theology is good, but those things are no replacement for what should be driving them: love. Jesus informs these “powerhouse” Christians that despite their greatness, if they continue in a lack of love – they will have their lampstand taken away – this means that they will no longer be church.
Recently I ran into an exercise where I was encouraged to write down in two columns: “I/we have success because of” and “I/we have success in spite of”. The answers in these two columns are supposed to encourage you to consider that some of the things that you may consider to be strengths, may actually just be weaknesses that your other strengths are overcompensating for. For Ephesus, they have a fundamental weakness that threatens to sink them if they don’t get it under control. The only problem is that they also have some strengths that are disguising the urgency and importance of dealing with their big problem. Do you have strengths that are disguising lack of something that should be there? Is there something about your Christian experience that is hiding a lack of love for God? Beware of those things, they can remove your lampstand.
But Jesus also has this to say about the Ephesians: They are given the ability to eat from the Tree of Life, the tree that continually brings new life. He brings us the true strength of eternal life, the true strength of that life that is given to us in the forgiveness of our sins and the justification of our lives. Recognize your true strength today, your first love, Jesus.