Jesus commends the Ephesian church for hard work, patience, and testing false apostles. They hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans. But he has something against them: they've abandoned their first love.
It's a subtle rebuke. They're doing all the right things. But their motivation has shifted. They're working from duty, not devotion. Their love for Jesus has cooled. They need to remember where they've fallen from and return to their first works.
Jesus says to him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God. The reward isn't escaping earth. It's returning to the garden. Restoration. Wholeness. The promise assumes you might fall, might lose your way, but the way back is available.
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