If God evaluated your relationship with Him based on the last thirty days, what would He see? Would He see a heart burning with love for Him, or would He see someone going through the motions?

You have to be honest. Because you can show people your Sunday smile and your religious activity, but you can’t fool God. He sees past the performance. He sees the focus and state of your heart. And if it’s grown cold, He’s not interested in the many excuses you might have for your slack; what He is interested in is bringing you back.

This is why He has sent you a wake-up call through this devotional today. Because you, amongst many believers, are living in “spiritual autopilot”. You’ve left your first love without even realising you have walked away.

Let us paint a picture of your possible life: You wake up, join a corporate morning devotion, and you go to church. You serve, you tithe, you do all the seemingly right things. The routine is there, the discipline is intact, and the boxes are checked, but you know that somewhere in the middle of doing everything right, your heart has gone quiet.

You probably can’t pinpoint when it happened. Maybe it was gradual, the slow fade that happens when life gets loud, and responsibilities pile up. Or maybe it was sudden, the result of disappointment or unanswered prayer that left you going through the motions while your affection grew cold.

Maybe you even attend special programs or camp meetings where you are stirred up, but it doesn’t translate to your day-to-day life. You know that this wasn’t the fire you carried when you began your journey in the faith.

When was the last time you stayed in worship? When was the last time you couldn’t wait to get alone with God in prayer? When was the last time reading Scripture felt less like a discipline and more like a desperate need?

If you can answer that honestly, you would see one truth: your love for God has waned.

Once again, this is God’s wake-up call to you. You aren’t the first person to go through this; the church at Ephesus faced this exact reality. They were doctrinally sound, spiritually discerning, and practically engaged in ministry. They worked hard, they persevered, and they couldn’t tolerate evil. By every external measure, they looked like the model church.
But Jesus had something to say to them.

Revelation 2:2-4
New King James Version
2 “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars;
3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.
4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

“You have left your first love.”
This was His word to the church in Ephesus and to you. The Ephesians didn’t stop serving, they didn’t stop working, they didn’t stop being theologically correct. But in the midst of all their activity, they abandoned the affection that once fueled everything they did.

And Jesus didn’t overlook it. He didn’t say, “Well, at least you’re still doing ministry.” He confronted it directly: You’ve left your first love. Because at the bottom line, what God wants from you isn’t your works or your service in the church, as important as service is. What God primarily wants from you is that He is the focus of your heart and of your desires. He wants your love.

Has your love for God grown cold? When you think about Him, does your heart stir with affection, or has He become more of an obligation than a relationship? When you worship, are you truly engaging with Him, or are you just singing songs? When you pray, is it a conversation with Someone you love, or is it a religious duty?

Jesus didn’t leave the Ephesians (or you) without a solution. He gave them a clear path back:

Revelation 2:5
New King James Version
5 “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”

“Remember.” That’s the first instruction. Not “try harder” or “do more. Remember.
Remember where you were before He saved you.
Remember the weight of sin that crushed you.
Remember the hopelessness, the emptiness, the bondage.
Remember what it felt like to be separated from God.

And then remember what He did. He didn’t wait for you to get your life together. He didn’t demand that you clean up first. While you were still a sinner, Christ died for you (Romans 5:8). When you were dead in trespasses and sins, He made you alive (Ephesians 2:1-5). When you were far off, He brought you near by His blood (Ephesians 2:13).

He loved you first.

1 John 4:10, 19
New King James Version
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins…
19 We love Him because He first loved us.

You love Him because He loved you first. And He hasn’t stopped.
So go back.
Remember when He showed up for you specifically. Remember the breakthrough that came when you had no way out. Remember the provision that arrived when you were at your lowest. Remember the healing, the deliverance, the answered prayer, the moment He met you in worship, and you couldn’t stop crying because His presence was so real.
Remember.
Let those memories rekindle what routine has dimmed.

But remembering your experience isn’t enough. Because sometimes your experience and emotions can be clouded by the circumstances you are facing. So, more importantly, you need to remember who He is and the magnitude of His love for you. This is the basis of your faith.

Romans 8:38-39
New King James Version
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing can separate you from His love. Not your failure, not your struggle, not your doubt, not your coldness, not that addiction, Nothing! His love for you is relentless, unchanging, and unshakable.

Ephesians 3:17-19
New King James Version
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—
19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

The love of Christ surpasses knowledge. You can’t fully comprehend it, but you can experience it. And when you do—when you allow yourself to be grounded in His love—it changes everything, it causes a response.
God’s love demands a response. Not out of obligation, but out of overflow. When you truly grasp how much He loves you, loving Him back becomes the most natural thing in the world.

Matthew 22:37-38
New King James Version
37 Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 This is the first and great commandment.

The greatest commandment is to love God with everything you are: your heart, your soul, your mind, your strength.
This is about returning to affection. It’s about letting your service flow from love rather than duty. It’s about worshipping because you want to be near Him, not because it’s Sunday. It’s about praying because you love talking to Him, not because you’re supposed to.

And here’s what Jesus told the Ephesians to do after they remembered: Repent and do the first works.

Do what you did when you first fell in love with Him. When worship felt effortless, when prayer was a joy, when His Word was sweeter than honey, when you couldn’t stop talking about Him, do that again.

Life will get loud again, responsibilities will return, and routine will settle back in. But you cannot afford to let your love for God fade into the background.

Fight for it. Guard it. Stir it up daily.

2 Timothy 1:6 says,
New King James Version
6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you.

In the same way, stir up your love for God. Fan the flame. Don’t let it die down to embers. Remember what He did. Remember who He is. Remember how much He loves you. And let that remembrance reignite your heart.

Your First Love is waiting for you to return. Go back.

Prayer Point
Father, forgive me for letting my love for You grow cold. I don’t want to just go through the motions. I want my heart to burn for You again. Help me to what You’ve done, who You are, and how much You love me. Stir up my affection and rekindle the fire.