The Test of LoveShembull

The One Thing to Never Quit Why did the Ephesians abandon their first love, the love of God—the primary love, the essential love? Why did they go on to fritter their lives away in all these good but lesser things? Because everything else was easier. None of it was bad or harmful as such, and most of it had to be done, sometime or another. They weren’t hurting anybody, and they were helping many. But they weren’t at their best. They were not living at that center where the action of God is in full force. In a word, they were lazy. They were working day and night, doing good deeds, teaching the truth, opposing falsehood, impressing themselves and one another with their industriousness—all because they were too lazy to love. Ephesus had the reputation of being the love capital of the ancient world. The fertility love goddess, Artemis, had a great shrine in Ephesus. But in this very city, some people were onto the real thing: Love that gave. Love that accepted. Love that was sacrificial and redemptive. Love that wasn’t out to get but out to give. Love that didn’t leave you wasted and cheapened but fulfilled and enriched. Love that brought the longings for excellence, for passion, and for wholeness into all affairs of everyday life. Then the Christians in Ephesus quit. The Ephesians’ strongest virtue became the source of their failing—they worked so hard to be right and correct that they forgot who they were being good to and how their righteousness affected others. They quit because it was too much for them. It demanded their total selves. It required them to keep their whole being in Christ. It didn’t seem like such a bad thing to quit; after all, there were plenty of important church jobs to do, and there was a moral life to lead, and there was all that evil in the city to fight against. Love is what Christ still requires of us. If we won’t do it, he will go on and find someone who will. He is not going to lower himself to our standards. Instead, he is going to raise us to his: to love. In the end, we will be judged on our love. Heavenly Father, we confess we have become neglectful of love. By Your mercy please raise us back up to Your perfect standard of love.