Costly Love

When I use the word “lukewarm” to describe a person’s love for Jesus, I don’t mean he is cold toward the Lord. Rather, I mean his love is inexpensive, not costly.

When Jesus addressed the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2, he first commended them for all they had done. He acknowledged that they had labored hard in the faith, hating sin and compromise, refusing to accept false doctrines, never fainting or giving up when persecuted, and always taking a stand for the gospel. Yet Christ said he held one thing against them: they had forsaken their fervent, costly love for him. “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (Revelation 2:4, NKJV).

Somehow, amid all their good works, they had left behind their loving, disciplined walk with Jesus. He told them, “You have left your first love and forsaken the costly discipline of coming into my presence to commune with me.”

Jesus was speaking here of believers who started with a burning love for him, not to cold, nominal Christians who never loved him in the first place. He was saying, “It’s possible for someone who once had a heart of love for me to let their zeal become lukewarm to the point of seldom praying at all.”

Think about how insulting this must be to Christ, our bridegroom. What kind of marriage can there be when a husband and wife have no private times of intimacy? That is what Jesus was talking about here. He wants moments with you all to himself.

It does not matter how loudly you praise the Lord in church, how much you claim to love him, or how many tears you shed. You can give generously, love others, hate sin, and rebuke wrongdoers, but if your heart is not continually drawn to Christ’s presence, you have lost your love for him.

All our works are in vain unless we return to our bright, burning love for Jesus. We must realize that loving Jesus isn’t just about doing things. It involves the daily discipline of maintaining a relationship, which will cost us something.