Your first love

"...you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary.  Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love." -Revelation 2:3-4

The first archetype Christ addresses while instructing the churches in Revelation is a "doing" church.  He sees their work and perseverance but identifies that their focus has shifted over time from Him to the work of their hands. Christ instructs them to return to their first works - their first love - because no matter how righteous our works are, or how noble the cause, they should never substitute our relationship with Jesus Christ. This rebuke is certainly cutting to the church of our day where many have left their first love, Christ, and become enamored by the labor itself.