2:4
Now comes the criticism. They had forsaken their first love. Now it is not clear whether this means love for Christ, love for fellow Christians, or love for unbelievers. I suspect that it includes all three, though love for Christ and fellow believers would be uppermost. How does this happen? It is so easy to get absorbed in a ministry, whether it be teaching, evangelism, helping the poor or whatever. These are good in themselves, but we will so easily make an idol out of them. The ministry becomes the reason that we live! Jesus has to be the reason that we love, and closely related to this is love for one another. Jesus said the world will know we His disciples by our love for one another.
2:5
“Consider how far you have fallen!” Sometimes we have a sudden catastrophic fall, and it is obvious that something has gone seriously wrong, but at other times it is a gradual sliding away from the right path. We need to look back and to compare where we are now with where we were. Then we can assess how much progress we have made, or how far we have drifted from the truth.
There is an answer to this, and that is to repent. Repentance is one of the most powerful spiritual weapons that we have! Otherwise, Jesus would come and remove them from their place in His kingdom.
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