The verses in Rev. 2:1-5 speak of Thy First Love and The First Works. 
Thy first love or my first love is easily misunderstood as my love for Christ, 
and the first works is taken for granted as what I must do for God. 
 

    Most Christians when asked, "what is your first love?" will say, 
Christ is the object and it is my love for Him. 
They say that the church at Ephesus has lost their love for Christ,
and thus has lost its enthusiasm for Him. 
But they were working hard for Him and yet are reprimanded for falling from their first love. 
Most think that it is my love for Christ and for God when I learned of Him dying on the Cross for me. 
 

    Our first love is the moment I met Jesus on the Cross 
but it is not that I loved Him but that He loved me. 
I did not love Him when I first learned about Him dying on the Cross for me.
I learned of God's love for me through the Gospel of Christ. 

My first love is God's love for me 
when He gave His Son to die on the Cross for me. 
My love for Him grows only as I realize more of His love for me 
and His love gives me the capacity to love Him and others more. 
Yes, Jesus is the person of our first love, 
but it is not my love for Him but His love for me. 
"God so loved the world..." (Joh. 3:16);
 

"We love Him because He first loved us" (1Joh. 4:19).
“Herein is love, not that we love God, 
but that He loved us, and sent His Son,
to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1Joh. 4:10). 
 

     He uses the word first because He is speaking about the place and time His love was shown. 
Where?  On the Cross.  When?  When He died for me. 
The Greek word for first is protos. 
It means at the very first, 
at the Cross where God’s love was manifested on Calvary. 
 Many misunderstand the things of God because they are looking from man's standpoint, 
from me to God, from the works point of view and what I must do for God. 
This is the religious and world’s point of view, 
of the literal and the physical,
and this view keeps you and I earthbound. 
 

    The Christian aspect is from God to me. 
It is by GRACE. 
It is what God has done and not what I must do for Him.

It is already done.  Everything is done in Christ. 

Our aspect to God is by faith.  We receive this grace of God by faith 
and we enter into His Rest. 
God to me is always by Grace 
and my coming to Him is always by faith. 
 

    To understand the spiritual things of God, 
one must look from God's point of view,
from the point of view of Grace and not of works,
of what God has done for me and not what I must do for God, 
of the spiritual and not the physical. 
 

     Although this portion is an illustration of the earlier churches, 
it is prophetic of the many churches in our time today, 
that also have the same problem. 
We have left our first love. 
The word left in the Greek is APHIEMI,
which means to leave behind, 
and go forth and not carry it or take it with you. 
It is not that we have forgotten about the love of God completely,
for we know it in our minds. 
But we have not this remembrance 
nor grown deeper into the fullness of His love in our hearts
(2Co. 5:12; 2Thes. 2:16, 17). 
Many cannot identify distinctly what our first love is. 
 

    We have grown cold toward it and if we know it, we do not know it in depth. 
We carry it in us as a form of doctrine but not as from the heart of the Lord; 
thus, we are emphasizing works but not the first works. 
The first works and the first love go together, 
as the first works are the result of the first love.
 When we remember and know our first love,

God can begin and continue the first works,
for works is the result of the first love. 
If you have left or forgotten in your heart your first love, 
which is God's love for you, 
you will labor for the Lord, 
but it will not be the first works. 
It will be your works, 
and of what you must do or want to do for God. 
Remember this, what you want to do for God is not necessarily His Will. 
 

    You must know what He wants 
and not feel what He wants you to do for Him. 
Many say, I feel or I felt God wanted me to do this or go here, etc. 
When it comes to God's will, we do not go by our feelings. 
This is not according to Scripture and the Apostle Paul did not speak in this manner. 
He says again and again, "Don't you know?"  "Know ye not?" 
If we feel that God wants us to do certain things or go to a certain place, 
we should wait until we know for sure that we can say, 
I know God's will was this or that! 
 

    What is thy first love? 
It is the original place where God has displayed His Grace. 

It is the place that all have come to know God. 
Yes, the first love was displayed through Christ dying for us on the Cross. 
This is the important place because of what happened there. 
We are brought back to that place by the Lord's Supper
for there on the cross God displayed His Great Love for us 
as Jesus shed His blood for us.
This is the place we are to remember by baptism,
as it reminds us that we were crucified with Him on the Cross. 
The words “first love”
here means the place where we came to know God's love for us. 
 
 
 

    There is only one kind of love and that is the love of God (Joh. 3:16).

 Many labor for the Lord, feeling that it is their love for the Lord,
which keeps them working but this is not the whole truth. 

While it is true that the more we love the Lord we would do more, 
but it is His love that generates the love in my heart for Him. 
My first love is the Grace of God, the love of God FOR ME. 
This is Grace.  My love for Him is the result of knowing His love for me. 

 John says; 
  "we love Him  because HE FIRST loved us" (1Joh. 4:19).
  "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us,
and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1Joh. 4:10).
 

     Paul says
the love of Christ constrains us (2Cor. 5:14).
It is His love that holds us together and directs us. 
It is His love that works our faith (Gal. 5:6).
 

     Those at the church of Ephesus left the place of Grace. 
The verse does not say that they have left their love for the Lord. 
That verse says that they left thy first love,
the place of Grace,

the place, where we all learned of the love that God has shown to
us when He gave His only Begotten Son to die for the sins of the world. 
They have forgotten Grace and were emphasizing works. 
They have forgotten for He says REMEMBER! 
How do you know that you have forgotten your first love?

IT IS WHEN ONE EMPHASIZES WORKS,
WHAT YOU MUST DO TO PLEASE GOD. 
It is not that they will lose their salvation, for it is eternal. 
But they have fallen from Grace, not from the Grace of salvation but the 
Grace that works in us and through us. 
They were like those at the church at Galatia 
who were mixing Grace with works
(Gal. 5:4). 
 

    He said to those at the church at Ephesus, 
REPENT AND REMEMBER! 
They were vigorously and continually working for the Lord,
for they fainted not, 
but He says to repent. 
Can you imagine those who were working hard for the Lord
and were told to REPENT? 

How absurd it seems! 
But they were told to repent for they have forgotten their FIRST LOVE,
and thus they were working but not doing the FIRST WORKS. 
They were correct in many things. 
They hated evil doers and liars and the deeds of the Nicolaitanes. 
Doctrinally, they were sound toward others,
but their understanding of profound spirituality was missing. 
 

    Physically, my first love as a human being on this earth is
when I was conceived, and grew in my mother's womb. 
She loved me as a baby, 
but I did not know this until in my later years as I grew up and understood it. 
I was a baby and did not know that I loved her at that time of birth. 
As I grew up, I began to love her but that is not my first love. 

It is not that I loved her but that she loved me, and that is my first love. 
I can forget that or take it for granted. 
She loved me even before I was born, 
while I was in her womb. 
She bought booties and diapers and a crib, etc. 
She prepared all these things for me. 
 

    Now if I would do things for her out of duty and obligations, 
then I have forgotten my first love, that is, her love for me. 
It is knowing and realizing that she loves me that motivates me in pleasing her. 

If I do things because of obligation or because I must,
I have forgotten her love for me. 
I do not understand and had forgotten 
why she had me in the first place. 
It was not to have me as a worker for her 
but to have enjoyment, fellowship, companionship, 
and to give me life. 
Yes, I could easily have forgotten my first love, 
which is her love for me.

 LET US NOT FORGET GOD'S LOVE FOR US. 
 
 
 

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