I. First Love

In His initial epistle to the local church in Ephesus, the Lord Jesus rebukes her for losing her first and best love toward Him (2:4). In the following passage, Witness Lee focuses on the vital need for believers in the local churches to love the Lord Jesus supremely in order to safeguard their enjoyment of Him as their life and to thus maintain His living testimony.

In the first epistle, the one to Ephesus, the Lord requires in His recovery of the local churches the first love. The Lord says, "I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love….To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life" (Rev. 2:2-4, 7).

The Lord tells this church that they have the labor, the works, and many good things, but they have left the first love. The word "first" in Greek means first not only in time or order, but also in quality or nature. The same word is translated as "best" in the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15. The father ordered the best robe for him. That is the first robe, not only first in sequence, but also best in quality.

The Lord demands of His local churches not only the first love, but also the best love. He wants the love which is first in quality and nature. If when others come to our meetings, they only realize that we are doing many things for the Lord, but do not sense that we render the best love to the Lord, then we are a failure. What people must sense in our meetings is that we love the Lord first and best. We should not care too much for works or labor, or for any other thing. We must only care for the first and best love to the Lord. There must be a sense among us that the Lord Jesus is so lovable, so dear and so precious. Whenever we mention His name, our heart should feel so responsive.

This is the first requirement of the local churches in the Lord’s recovery. Do not think we need to do a multitude of things for Him. He does not require that. What He requires is the first and best love toward Him. Do we love the Lord with the first love and the best love? Could we say that we love the Lord Jesus more than all our family? We must be able to say this. We must say to our wives, “I love you because you love Jesus.” Then we will all love one another because we all love Jesus.

As the years go by, we should love the Lord more dearly. Nothing should be more sweet to us than the Lord Jesus. We should love the church, but we should not love it as much as we love the Lord Jesus. He must be our first and best love.

It is by this love that we are the lampstand [the Lord’s testimony]. If we lose this love, the Lord Jesus will remove the lampstand. This means that if we lose our love, we will lose the lampstand. So the more we love the Lord Jesus, the more we will be shining, and the more we will enjoy Him as the Tree of Life. To be the lampstand and to enjoy the Lord as the Tree of Life requires the best love toward the Lord, a love which surpasses all other things. We must have the first love, the best love, the most pure love toward the Lord Jesus. Then we will be the living lampstand, and we will be qualified to enjoy Him as the Tree of Life. Love, light, and life all go together. If we have the first love and the best love toward the Lord Jesus, we will be a shining lampstand, and we will enjoy the Lord Jesus as the Tree of Life. This is the first requirement. (65-67)

The most prevailing characteristic of believers in the local churches should be their burning love for the Lord Jesus. Witness Lee admonishes us that it is this first and best love for the Lord that qualifies a local church to be a shining lampstand for the Lord's testimony and to enjoy Him as the Tree of life.