Reclaiming Our Spiritual Passion

Have we ever thought why our spiritual passion fades so easily? After we were baptized into Christ (Gal. 3:26-28) , we spent hours thinking about Him, studying His Word, and telling others how much He meant to us. Then it happened. Our busy schedules slowly dampened our passion. Our longing to be like Jesus and our study of His word became an occasional glance — surely the object of our affection had not changed that much!

The church at Ephesus wrestled with maintaining its spiritual passion. Through the writer John, Jesus wanted to help them restore and maintain their love and zeal for Him. Although He commended this church for their work, Jesus saw that they had abandoned their first love — Him (Revelation 2:4).

The Ephesians had lost their spiritual passion for Jesus. Their work for the Lord had become cold and mechanical. What happened? Had the brethren at Ephesus allowed the stealthy culprit of the world and busyness to enter their hearts? (cf. 2 Timothy 4:10). Whatever it was, something had stolen the affection that had once been reserved for the Lord.

Let’s ask ourselves, “Have we allowed something to steal our spiritual passion?” If so, that passion can be restored and maintained when we consistently remember our Lord’s amazing love demonstrated at Calvary (cf. John 15:13; Romans 5:6-10).

Beloved, let us repent of our sinful, unloving attitudes, and out of a passionate love for Jesus and His cause, “do the first works” — not in quantity, but in quality — in a spirit of how we first loved the Lord when we first became obedient to His will (Matthew 7:21; Romans 6:17; Revelation 2:5).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets