Revelation 2 : 1-7
Do you love me?"
In the wonderful musical fiddler on the Roof, a Russian peasant named Tevye ask his wife this simple question.
Love him? Golde had never even met Tevye until the day of their arranged wedding. Now after twenty-five years of marriage, he wants to talk of love? It sound so, so. . . Ridiculous, so foreign to her that she thinks he has indigestion and should lie down.
Tevye repeats the question, in earnest.
Golden wonders at his thinking, then explains how hard she has worked as his wife--cooking his meals washing his clothes, having his children. Still, it doesn't satisfy Tevye, So he asks again.
This time, Golden falls back on the obvious: she's his wife!
Even so, Tevye persist--does she love him!
After some reflection, she answer that she does indeed love him realizing that her life hasn't been just meaningless busywork.
She has worked so hard because of her love for Tevye.
It's possible, though, Tevye realized and feared, for activity to replace love.
Another peasant, a first-century capenter from Galilee, ask His bride the same question Tevye asked his "Do you love Me?" Does our full plate activity show our fervent love for our Lord? Or are we so busy simply doing-- Bible studies, evangelism, defending the faith. Service speaking-- that our love for us Savior has grown cool?
That was the problem with the church in Ephesus. Their religious busyness (a status symbol in many churches today), rather than springing from a deep and joyful love for Christ, had effectively replaced their love for the Savior with an icy estrangement. So Jesus told the apostle John. "Write this down"-- then He dictated a letter of generous praise but also of stringing rebuke. Let's read the book of ephesian of His letter and, at same time, allow the spirit to read the content, of our lives to see if we are doing everything but one thing---- loving Him.
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