Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
Christ holds the ministers of the gospel in His right hand, directs their every motion, fills them with light, and keeps them from falling. He walks in the midst of His churches in intimate presence, caring for both pastors and people with the same constant attention He gives to the stars.
AI summary
Commenting on Revelation 2:1-7
Believers cannot fall wholly away from grace, but they can fall into sin and drop in the exercise of love to God and Christ as these churches did. Remember what height you have descended from, repent of your coldness and lovelessness, and do your first works with the same zeal, or Christ will come in providence to shake and unsettle your church state itself, removing the candlestick from its place.
AI summary
When your religion has declined, recall the ardour and warmth you once had. Nothing cuts deeper into a backsliding Christian than contrasting your present state with those happier days of piety, the joy and peace you then knew, the good you then accomplished. That remembrance alone is fitted to recall you from your wanderings.
AI summary