God had a Plan, Return to Your First Love

The prophetic word of the Lord given to John for the church of Ephesus, as recorded in Revelations, chapter two, was in regard to the fact that they had left their first love. As a church, they had many things going for them – they toiled and persevered and didn’t tolerate false apostles; they had perseverance and endurance for the sake of the name of Jesus, and they were not growing weary. Yet, they had allowed their first love to grow cold. Motivation is everything. Were they just going through the motions, yet their heart was not in it?

Revelations 2:1-5 "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:
2'I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;
3and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary.
4'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
5'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place--unless you repent.

Obviously these words in Revelations were not written only for the sake of the ancient church at Ephesus – they were intended just as much for us, and perhaps in these last days, even more so. When Jesus was talking to the disciples about what would occur before the end and His return, He told them that the love of most would grow cold.

Matthew 24:12 "Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold.

As a solution to the problem with the church in Ephesus, why did the Lord tell them to “do the deeds you did at first”? Why not just say, “Return to your first love,” and leave it at that? Here is an analogy. Imagine a couple being in marriage counseling because they no longer feel as though they are in love, and they just don’t feel like they have anything in common. Wanting to do the right thing, rather than end the marriage they have decided to try counseling.

Now imagine the marriage counselor instructing them to “do the things they did” when they were newly in love. These might include such things as dating, holding hands, going for long walks, talking everything over together, writing letters and making phone calls when apart – all because they were in love and all these things came naturally to them because of those feelings they had for one another. The couple might resist the counsel at first, saying, “But we did those things because we sincerely wanted to, because of our feelings of love for each other.”

The wise counselor would reply, “Do those same things again, even if you don’t feel like it so much right now – and as you do, you will find that the feelings of love you had will return over time.”

I don’t know about you, but when I first got saved, I spent a lot of time in prayer – talking to the Lord, seeking His will, trying to find out everything I could about Him – which meant reading the bible a lot and staying actively involved in the fellowship of believers. The more I found out about Him – more accurately, the more I got to know Him and His love for me – the more I loved Him, and wanted to spend time in His presence.

Many years later a time came in my life as a Christian that I found myself growing weary, and my heart was growing cold. I fell away from Him for a time and no longer prayed nor read the word. I only went to church to keep up appearances. But after perhaps several months to a year, I repented. I began very deliberately doing the deeds I had done at first – praying, reading, singing His praise, fellowshipping – and the love I have for Him now is even greater than it was before.

God had a plan – You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. As Christians we have most thankfully received God’s plan of forgiveness for our natural lack of ability to love God as we should, as He deserves. On the cross, Jesus bore the penalty for our sins, we are born again, and are filled with the Holy Spirit, and it is the very power of the Holy Spirit that enables us to do the things we can’t – like loving God.

Perhaps you are a Christian who has in some way allowed your heart to grow cold, yet you long to return to the Lord and receive His forgiveness. But you aren’t sure how to go about restoring the love you had back then. Then take the simple prescription found in Revelation 2 – repent, return to your first love, and DO THE DEEDS you did at first. Remember above all that He loves you, and has waited longingly for your return. Lean on Him, trusting Him completely because He will most surely help you – in everything, but especially in something as important as loving Him.

I have written more about our “deeds” as Christians. You might enjoy: Titus, the Good Deeds Book.

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Job 42:1-2Then Job answered the LORD and said, "I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted."
[ALL SCRIPTURES NASB]

God had a Plan, A Good Deeds Book

I like to think of Titus as being ‘The Good Deeds Book.’ Now I know some of you are already a bit nervous about that. After all, our salvation isn’t based on ‘good deeds,’ but on the grace of God; it is the free gift of God’s love and mercy which we received when we believed that Jesus died on the cross to take away our sins. And you are so very right about that. Nowhere in the bible does it tell us otherwise. Even in the very book of Titus the gospel of our salvation is explained, stating quite clearly that we are not saved by our own deeds which we have done in righteousness.

Titus 3:4-7 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

There are other fundamental themes found within the book of Titus – church planting, sound doctrine, role modeling, and generally how we as Christians are to live our lives. That said, the theme I would like to focus on – is good deeds. Titus is only three short chapters and yet ‘deed’ or ‘deeds’ are mentioned in seven verses. From these few verses, it is evident that now, having been saved by grace, we are most surely to practice ‘good deed doing.’ Because it is mentioned so often, I have to conclude that it is considered by God Himself to be very important. In addition to Titus 3:4-7, the other verses that mention “good deeds” from Titus are the following:

Titus 1:16 They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.

Titus 2:7 in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified,

Titus 2:14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

Titus 3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed,

Titus 3:8 This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.

Titus 3:14 Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.

So, why are good deeds so very significant? Why not just enjoy grace, and sit back and wait for our ultimate salvation when the Lord returns to take us to be with Him forever? I believe the reason is simple – if an apple tree never produces apples, can we be sure it is an apple tree? The evidence of our faith is fruit – and if our lives produce no fruit, how can we be sure that faith is real?

Truly, I believe it is God Himself who desires to see fruit in our lives. Faith that produces no good thing is not something He is pleased with. He is pleased, however, when our faith is revealed – exemplified by our good deeds. The apple tree proves it is an apple tree by producing apples.

John 15:8 “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

God’s plan didn’t end with our salvation. “Good deeds” aren’t somehow an accidental post script to our foundational faith. God knew and planned all along that our actions would line up with our beliefs – when we really believe. If we believe a stove is hot, we won’t touch it. If we believe God is real, our actions will show that belief.

So, what then – are we to spend our days just looking for ways to be a “good-deed-doer?” It’s not that simple. Even a non-Christian can be a “good-deed-doer.” Motivation of the heart, whether we are doing deeds by faith – believing first that a specific deed is the thing God wants us to do, and knowing we can’t do anything in our own power but must rely on Him and His power working through us – all of these things tell whether it is truly a “good deed” in God’s sight. We do so many things from a desire to earn the favor of man, or even to earn God’s favor because we don’t completely understand the grace in which we stand.

Here is a very simple example. My child does not earn the right to be my child by cleaning his room. He already IS MY CHILD. He cannot earn through good deeds what he already has. We cannot earn by good deeds what we have already been freely given. If my child chooses to disobey me by not cleaning his room, he is still my child and I still love him. But quite frankly, I am not pleased with his behavior. On the other hand, if my child chooses to obey me by cleaning his room, then not only is he still my beloved child, but he has pleased me with his behavior.

This is a simple illustration of God’s love for us, and how completely accepted we are in Christ Jesus. It also explains some scriptures which otherwise might cause some confusion, because in fact, we are told to make pleasing God our very ambition.

1 Corinthians 5:9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

Colossians 1:10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

I like the book of Titus. Rather than being discouraged because I know I’m never going to get it all done, nor get it all done right, nor even do all the “good deeds” I’m called to, I’m thankful for God’s grace, and that He tells me I am His child, and He will always love me and always be with me. I’m also thankful that I can pursue knowing and pleasing Him, because by His grace He is building inside of me a desire to please Him, and because according to scripture it is the right thing to do!

And so, God’s plan – we are to be: an example of good deeds, zealous for good deeds, ready for every good deed, careful to engage in good deeds, and learning to engage in good deeds – and all for His glory, because we have as our sincere ambition to please Him in all respects!

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Job 42:1-2Then Job answered the LORD and said, "I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted."
[ALL SCRIPTURES NASB]