The Lord warned the church in Ephesus, "Remember therefore whence thou art fallen, and repent...or else I come to thee, and will move thy lampstand out of its place" (2:5). The Lord said that if they would not repent and return to their first love, they would lose their light, they would lose the testimony, they would lose the lampstand and be in darkness. In other words, without the first and best love, they would be finished as far as the testimony of the Lord Jesus was concerned. It is quite serious. Abundance of labor for the Lord Jesus does not prove that we have the testimony. It is by loving Him in the first and best way that we have the shining power, the light, the lampstand, and the testimony. The testimony of the shining Jesus is not in the labor for Him, but in the intimate love for His dear self.

The Lord's warning to the church of Ephesus was also coupled with a promise. He said, "To him that overcometh, to him will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God" (2:7). These three words always go together—love, light, and life. If we love the Lord intimately, personally, and in the first and best way, we will have the light, and we will have the enjoyment of the life. The Lord Jesus promised that those who overcome to love Him thus would eat of the tree of life. This is not merely a promise for future enjoyment of Himself, but a blessed promise to be fulfilled even today. The proper church life is today's paradise of God—it is here that we may enjoy Christ as the tree of life. Christ is not a collection of teachings—He is the tree of life for our enjoyment. We must learn not to imitate Jesus, not merely to follow Jesus, but to eat Jesus as the tree of life in the church as the paradise of God. Undoubtedly this promise refers mainly to the future, but we may have a real foretaste today. Hallelujah! Many of us can testify that we do have such a foretaste today of Christ as the tree of life in the church life as the paradise of God.

The first step of forming the new religion is that of working so much for the Lord Jesus that we lose the intimate and personal love relationship with Himself. Brothers and sisters, wherever we are, the first thing we must do in the local churches is to love the Lord. The first and greatest impression we must give people in the local churches is not how much we work for Christ, but how much we love Him. Whenever we mention His precious name, we should simply be beside ourselves with love for Him. Let us aim at this, and let us be alert lest we lose it. The second impression we must give people is that in this love of Jesus we love one another. We love Him so intimately, and we love one another. The greatest impression people must receive when they touch the church life is the love in these two aspects—love toward the Lord Jesus and love to one another. Then we will have the lampstand with the shining power and fulness of light to chase away all the darkness. Then we will have the enjoyment of the tree of life and taste it even now in the paradise of God. Hallelujah! If we miss this, we are taking the first step to form a Christian religion.