The church has received a bad rap in some recent surveys and polls. Random people were asked what they thought about the church. The answers included boring, corrupt, irrelevant, intolerant and on and on.

Those same people were asked what they thought about the biblical God and Jesus Christ. In almost every case, the people who gave low marks to the church gave high marks to both God and Jesus Christ.

If the church contains supposed followers of God and Jesus Christ, and the church gets low marks, then one must conclude that some of the people making up the church are not following God and Jesus Christ very closely.

This condition is not new. There have always been periods when the people who claimed to be Christians drifted away from the true teachings of Christ and allowed all kinds of things to get between them and their relationship with the Lord.

That is where revival comes in. Revival is restoring life and vitality to something or someone who once had life and vitality.

The church as we know it has been around for about 2,000 years. Early in the church’s history, there was a call to revival.

The church was in Ephesus and represented many churches of that day. The call to revival was by Jesus Christ himself and is recorded in the New Testament book of Revelation, chapter 2.

In Revelation 2:2, Jesus declares, “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance.” Jesus was commending them on their diligent effort to maintain form and substance. Jesus goes on to say that these church members in Ephesus were careful not to tolerate wicked men.

Sound like a good church? To most of us, it sounds good. Integrity, effort, sticking to it in hard times, etc. are all things that seem to be important.

With all the good points of the church, Jesus had an issue with them. The church in Ephesus could have been boring, intolerant and irrelevant as they went about their “church work.” The issue Jesus had with them is stated in Revelation 2:4, Jesus said, “You have forsaken your first love.” The love Jesus was talking about was love for God and for Jesus Christ. Some church people can get so involved in the work of the Lord that they neglect the Lord of the work.

Any church that does not keep the practice of loving God and his son Jesus Christ as the main thing is a candidate for revival.

Jesus told the church at Ephesus to do two things in Revelation 2:5. The first, “remember the height from which you have fallen!” The point is, their love for God was no longer fresh and life-giving. Church had become cold and lifeless because love was no longer the main motivator.

The second thing Jesus said was, “Repent and do the things you did at first.” To repent you must change direction. The direction the church was going, even with all the hard work, perseverance, and attention to integrity, etc. was neglecting the nurturing and cultivation of a passionate love for God and Jesus Christ.

Every person who has genuinely met Christ in salvation has experienced a divine miracle that rocked his or her life like no other incident ever. Salvation produces a changed life and a changed life produces joy. Jesus said, “Remember and repent!”

If the church were revived, love for God would be so evident that it would be infectious. The church needs it; let’s pray for it.

The Rev. Dan Puckett is a minister with Life Action Ministries.