Text: Hebrews 10:32-35
Memory verse:
”“Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem Will be pleasant to the Lord, As in the days of old, As in former years.“
‭‭Malachi‬ ‭3‬:‭4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I will always thank God who saved my life. Even though I was born into a traditional Christian family and raised in the vicarage, I wasn’t saved until I was thirteen years old. Thereafter and unconsciously, I began to manifest the new life in me. On returning home for vacation, I began to do chores, which I didn’t do and which no one dared tell me to do before my encounter with Christ. I didn’t know that everyone noticed the change in me until a year later, when someone was bold to ask about my ‘strange’ conduct!
The third thing the Lord Jesus told the church of Ephesus to do in order to come out of her complacency was to do the first works. That is, to do what she did before her spiritual degeneration; the works she did when she first knew Christ. “So remember the heights from which you have fallen, and repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, your sinful behavior—seek God’s will] and do the works you did at first [when you first knew Me]…” (Rev 2:5 AMP).
It’s obvious that this is not a call to another or additional Christian service because the Ephesian church had works in her profile. According to Revelation 2:2-3, Jesus remarked that she had labour, patience, intolerance to evil, endurance and patience in suffering and tirelessness. What she now lacked was the former motivation for the work she did. The motivation had changed and was now adversely affecting the results. The quantity didn’t change, but the quality did. The first works were done out of deep love for Christ. She did the works freely and devotedly from the heart of love. In other words, whatever impressive things anyone would have seen about the works done would be traced to their burning love for Christ. The love of Christ should constrain, control, or rule believers (2 Cor 5:14).
When good works are not motivated by the love of Christ, not focused on Christ or not having salvation as their goal, they become mere social works, just like other charity organizations. This is what the ‘ Christ-lover’, Ephesian church, degenerated to that made Jesus call her attention. She needed to return to work with that initial love and passion for Christ and His cause, just like the message of our text.
Friends, are you still serving God with the love you had for Him at the beginning? Are your good works being constrained by the love of Christ and pointing people to Him?

Prayer points
1. Father, stir up Your love in my heart again and let it rule and control all my actions in Jesus’ name.
2. Father, let my good works always be motivated by love, focused on Christ, and have salvation as their end goals, in Jesus’ name.

Today’s declarations
1. Good works done without love and not pointing people to Jesus are mere social charity works.
2. The love of Christ constrains, controls, and rules me in all I do.

Contact: pastor@thf.org.ng