“..the reverent fear and worship of the Lord is your treasure and His.” Isaiah 33:6 Amplified Version
When Jesus sent a message to the church in Ephesus in Revelation chapter two, He told them that He had noticed the good works they were doing. Then He says, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”
The Greek word for “left” is aphiemi, which means “to leave” but it also means “to neglect or to leave alone.” The New International Version translates Revelation 2:4 as “You have forsaken the love you had at first.” The Ephesians had been zealous in their love for God in the beginning, but they seem to have lost their passion for God, neglecting their love for Him.
God wants us to love Him, not because we have to, but because we want to. Paul talked about his own zeal for the Lord. A Greek word zelotes meaning “burning with zeal, having warmth and feeling for or against, deep commitment and eager devotion to something or someone, and enthusiast, uncompromising partisan, admirer, emulator, imitator, follower.” Synonyms for zeal are fire, passion, eagerness, intensity, spirit, urgency, and vehemence.
God takes priority over all other relationships. The word priority means the right to take precedence; to go before in order, rank, importance, and time. We honor Him as being our source of life, our creator, our father, and our Lord. No one has more honor or value to us than He. He comes before a spouse, a child, a parent, a friend – God comes before anyone.
We are to love God will all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. That is the first commandment. The second is to love others. God cares about our relationships with people, or He never would have given us that second commandment. God wants to reach our friends with His love and the message of His salvation. We are to show them God’s love, pray for them, serve them, and witness to them. If a person we love tries to come between God and us, then we must choose God, no matter how much we love that person. He is our God, and no one else can take His place. When we put God first, then we also trust Him to care for the people that we care about.
Application: Let God take the lead in your life and relationships, and He will complete your life with His presence and His blessing.