After a long and happy marriage of many years to her soul-mate, an old lady suddenly had to face the death of her dear husband. When asked about an epitaph to place on his headstone she had these words engraved upon it: THE LIGHT OF MY LIFE HAS GONE OUT. A few years later she met another wonderful man, fell in love with and married him. Remembering what she had inscribed on her first husband's grave marker, she returned to the monument maker and had him add a second line to the inscription. It then read like this: THE LIGHT OF MY LIFE HAS GONE OUT. P. S. - I found a match.

This is reminiscent of what happened to the church in Ephesus in the first century. At the time John wrote the book of Revelation Jesus had a great number of good things to say about this church. They were hard workers; they were extremely patient with people and things; and they were intolerant of false teachers. However, the one glaring fault Jesus found with this church was that they had ceased to love one another like they had at first - (Rev. 2:1-7). The light of their life had gone out and they needed a match, something to spark it back into life once again. Jesus had the answer: repentance of sin and renewal of the first works - (Rev. 2:5).

Perhaps you're having a similar experience in your life right now. You once were very devoted to Christ, but you've allowed other things to take the precedence and the love you once had for Christ has grown cold and the devotion you once expressed is not demonstrated any more. You may even be doing a lot of "right" things, but you know the zest in your relationship to Christ has grown cold. You need to find a match so you can rekindle the flame, and it's extremely important that you do that before the fire in your life goes out completely. We would love to help. If you need our assistance, all you have to do is call. As you consider your relationship to Christ today, ask yourself, "Do I need a match?"

Lonnie Ritchie

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