Day 1 — Return to Your First Love

Revelation 2:4–5 "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works." There is a peculiar grief in drifting from what was once most precious.

The church at Ephesus had laboured hard, endured patiently, and tested false teachers — commendable in every outward way. Yet beneath the surface of correct doctrine and tireless service, something vital had slipped away: the warmth of first love.

They had kept the lamp of orthodoxy burning while letting the flame of devotion cool to embers. The counsel given is bracingly simple: remember, repent, and return. To remember is to compare where you once were with where you now stand — to recall the mornings when prayer felt like conversation, when Scripture opened like a window, when worship was not duty but delight.

That remembrance, faithfully done, becomes its own form of repentance, for we cannot honestly recall what we have lost and remain indifferent to recovering it. First love is not naive love. It is not the love of shallow enthusiasm that has never been tested.

It is the love that chose Christ knowing the cost, and finds him worth everything still. To do the first works is to begin again where grace began — on your knees, in the Word, in the company of his people — not as a performance but as a return to the One who first loved you.

The image of a lampstand removed is sobering. A church can continue its programmes, maintain its structures, and lose its very reason for existing. Genuine love for Christ is not a feeling to be occasionally recovered; it is the root from which all lasting fruit grows.

Without it, even the most impressive spiritual résumé becomes a hollow monument. 🪞 Reflect on this • When did you last feel your love for Christ burning most brightly? What was different about that season?

• Is there a spiritual discipline — prayer, Scripture reading, worship, service — that once felt alive but has become mechanical? What would returning to it look like? • What "first works" is the Lord calling you back to today?

👣 Take a Step — Write a Love Letter Set aside fifteen minutes today to write — by hand if possible — a letter to God, telling him what he means to you. Not a prayer list. Not a report on your week. A letter of love, recalling specific moments when his grace was unmistakeable.

Let the writing itself be the act of remembrance and return. Prayer: Lord, forgive me for the times I have served you without loving you, kept your commandments without cherishing your presence. Rekindle in me the first flame — the love that counted all things loss for the excellency of knowing you.

Let every act of worship flow from a heart genuinely delighted in who you are. Amen.